S. AKER. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL LABOR FORUM 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 1. Introduction to Labor Law of Yucatan, Mexico, 
 
 by M. C. Rolland. 
 
 2. Labor Law of Yucatan, Mexico. 
 
 3. Appeal to U. S. workers by Mexican workingmen. 
 
 4. President Gompers issues call for unity of labor in all 
 
 Pan-America. 
 
 5. Appeal to Mexican Labor, by Samuel Gompers. 
 
 6. Copies of Appeal to Mexican Leaders, 
 
 by Samuel Gompers 
 
 7. The Great Pact: signed by Mexican and American 
 
 Labor Representatives in Washington. 
 
 LATIN- AMERICAN NEWS ASSOCIATION, 1400 Broadway, New York — 1916 
 
NOTICE 
 
 Requests for literature should be accompanied 
 by a ten cent piece or stamps of an equal 
 amount to cover expense of mailing 
 
 LATIN-AMERICAN NEWS ASSOCIATION 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/internationallabOOroll 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 LABOR LAW OF YUCATAN 
 
 BY 
 
 M. C. ROLLAND 
 
 American artisans, producers, and laboring classes in 
 general; in fact, all who in this country have no capital, 
 but contribute towards production in the measure of their 
 power of intellect or their muscular strength, should be 
 made conversant with the fact that the Mexican Revolu- 
 tion is nothing but an economic transformation. 
 
 Our people were sunken in the most miserable condition 
 of feudalism, deprived of their lands and all political and 
 civil rights. We Mexicans had no security whatever as- 
 sured us in our native land, where every one else had such 
 guarantee, even the Chinese. The country was the desired 
 Ideal Land where Capitalism could give free rein to its 
 policy of exploitation and carry on its industrial enterprises 
 for the benefit of foreigners ; wages were ridiculously low ; 
 possession of land was obtained by false pretenses ; brute 
 force was employed to keep the laborers in subjection. 
 
 Under such conditions as these it is not difficult to un- 
 derstand why the largest textile factories of the world were 
 installed in Mexico ; or why none of them were allowed 
 to belong to Mexicans. 
 
 The first attempt by the laboring classes to better their 
 situation, which took place at the Rio Blanco, was washed 
 out in their blood by Porfirio Diaz ; the laborers were 
 hunted down like wild beasts and slaughtered in their 
 tracks as they tried to hide themselves in the beautiful 
 mountain regions of their native land. 
 
 People of the United States : Our Revolution demands 
 the righting of the wrongs and outrages that have been 
 committed against us. The strife is waged against the 
 great Trusts, against the reactionaries who organized for 
 their own benefit the social conditions then existing in 
 Mexico. 
 
 At the present time we are demonstrating to the world 
 by the reforms and the reconstructive work which the 
 Revolution is accomplishing that the Revolution was 
 socially justified. 
 
 Facts are stubborn things. The Agrarian Problem is 
 being dealt with in such a manner as to augment the pros- 
 perity of the people by the encouragement of the creation 
 of small interests. In order to readjust matters satisfac- 
 torily in the cities it is necessary properly to settle the 
 difficulties existing in the rural districts. 
 
 Take, for example, the Law of Replevin, actually in force 
 in the State of Yucatan, which will illustrate the matter 
 clearly. It shows that the working day of eight hours and 
 the working week of forty-four hours are accomplished 
 facts in Yucatan. The laborers have their special tribunals, 
 and compulsory arbitration obliges the capitalists to let the 
 laborers have a greater share in the profits derived from 
 the product of their labor, which in former years the 
 capitalists kept for themselves. 
 
 Again, when a union of workingmen deems that they 
 ought to receive more wages, the matter is openly dis- 
 
 cussed, always with the principle in mind that the laborer 
 needs better conditions and circumstances in which to live, 
 for his social welfare, than he formerly had. He must be 
 well fed, must be becomingly clothed, and have means and 
 time sufficient to enable him to improve himself. 
 
 In order to prevent the deterioration of the race, child- 
 ren are not permitted to labor in sweatshops or work- 
 shops of any kind. Women must have assigned to them 
 — at least to those of them that are nursing babies — a 
 special room and sufficient time at intervals during the day 
 to give necessary care to their young. When they are 
 approaching parturition their employers must grant them 
 eight weeks’ liberty with pay, and their positions must be 
 reserved for them in the meantime. Proper sanitary con- 
 ditions must be established in all working places and any 
 worker has a right by law to denounce any infringements 
 or breaches of the laws committed by their employers. 
 The Casualty Law is also an accomplished fact. 
 
 The Labor Problem is solved because the controlling 
 agency (the special tribunals) will enable the working man 
 and his employer to understand each other’s conditions 
 better and settle their differences without the necessity of 
 recourse to strikes, which naturally are looked upon only 
 as a last resort. 
 
 These are facts patent to all the world. Their signifi- 
 cance is startling when we think that that mass of laborers, 
 the greater part of them Indians, were but yesterday in 
 complete and abject slavery, and that to-day they have 
 already assimilated the legislation which the Revolution 
 prepared and are rapidly adjusting themselves to the new 
 mode of life, moving forward in no uncertain way towards 
 the new horizon of well-being which we predicted for 
 them. 
 
 In other parts of the Republic also, similar efforts have 
 been pursued. Very soon the same law will apply to the 
 
 centre of Mexico. 
 
 In Yucatan, greater improvements have perhaps been 
 brought about because peace has been established there 
 for a much longer time. Wherever the Revolution has had 
 time to develop its program, there may be seen the results. 
 These efforts of ours, these problems which vex us, are 
 the same as yours, citizens of this Republic; the people of 
 both nations are one in their most intimate, honest aspira- 
 tions for the well-being and felicity of the masses, based 
 on the welfare and happiness of the homes. 
 
 Consider our efforts and know that we are united against 
 the privileged individuals who utilized the oppressive state 
 of affairs created by them to make capital out of their 
 fellow-men. 
 
 The emancipation of the laborer will be accomplished 
 through the working classes themselves. 
 
 The Mexican Revolutionists are workers who are com- 
 plying with the law of self-expression and self-betterment. 
 
 1 
 
The great interests, the privileged classes, there as well 
 as here, are antagonizing the Revolution because it will put 
 an end to their nefarious work. Intervention means the 
 destruction of the spiritual Idea; the brutal crushing of a 
 holy aspiration. 
 
 Bread-winners of North America, do you realize that if 
 you permit the destruction of the ideal which inspires your 
 neighbors of the South you will inevitably be weakening 
 your own cause also? Every noble breast and every heart 
 that beats true should therefore recognize the duty of up- 
 holding the cause of the Constitutional movement in Mexi- 
 co and of defeating the fatal policy of Intervention. 
 
 2 
 
 THE LABOR LAW OF YUCATAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL REGULATIONS. 
 
 Article 1. Labor is accomplished by free will. Conse- 
 quently no authority, individual, or corporation may coerce 
 the right which all persons have to dedicate themselves to 
 the office or profession most convenient and agreeable to 
 themselves, to serve in the place and under the employer 
 that pleases them best, and therefore they have complete 
 liberty to combine and to organize labor unions. 
 
 Article 2. For the general intents of this law, the word 
 “employer” will be applied in reference to all individuals 
 or persons who may be proprietors or directors of factor- 
 ies, workshops, industries, rural establishments or any other 
 arrangements or enterprises whatsoever where human labor 
 is utilized. 
 
 Article 3. Under the designation of “laborers’’ will be 
 comprised all employees of commerce, operators, and ap- 
 prentices who perform manual labor in any of the centres 
 of activity to which the preceding article has reference. 
 
 Article 4. Unorganized laborers will not obtain the ad- 
 vantages which are conferred on organized workers with 
 regard to the raising of wages. 
 
 Article 5. When laborers who do not belong to a union 
 go on strike, their places may be taken by union laborers. 
 
 Article 6. In every workshop, industrial or mercantile 
 establishment, at least one-half of the staff of employees 
 must be Mexicans. 
 
 Article 7. Any establishment whatever in which there 
 are more than two employees serving under an employer 
 for the purpose of producing articles for sale, will be con- 
 sidered as a factory. 
 
 Article 8. By the term “labor contract” is understood 
 every agreement whereby a person binds himself to work 
 for another in virtue of a remuneration which is fixed ac- 
 cording to the time for which said person shall be em- 
 ployed and the quantity and quality of the work to be 
 performed. 
 
 Article 9. The labor contract shall be denominated 
 “convenio industrial” when it binds a union or federation 
 of laborers to their employers, organized or not, and shall 
 only be drawn up for a fixed time or for a specified work. 
 It is strictly and decisively prohibited to draw up tempor- 
 ary contracts to extend over a greater term than two years. 
 
 Article 10. The labor contract may be arranged ver- 
 bally or in writing. In case of a verbal agreement, said 
 contract must be in accord with the terms of this law and 
 must also conform to the customs of the place in which 
 
 said contract is drawn up. In case of a written agreement, 
 the lawful stipulations therein expressed as agreed upon 
 between the contracting parties must be in conformity with 
 what is prescribed by this law. Written contracts must 
 be drawn up in duplicate and a copy shall remain in the 
 possession of each party. 
 
 Article 11. The employers, when drawing up a “con- 
 venio industrial,” may cause its stipulation to be applicable 
 only to those workers who belong to the union or federa- 
 tion with which they may be contracting or to all of a 
 definite class of laborers, or to all the laborers of a certain 
 district of the State. 
 
 In their turn, the unions or federations of workers who 
 agree to a “convenio industrial” are bound by said agree- 
 ment only. to the employers or to the union or federation 
 of employers with which they have contracted, or to a 
 certain definite class of employers, or to all the employers 
 of a certain specified district of the State. 
 
 Article 12. In the wording of the written contracts and 
 of the “convenios industriales,” the following formulas 
 shall be observed : 
 
 1. Determination, as precisely as possible, of the service 
 agreed upon to be performed. In default of the same being 
 expressly stated, it shall be understood that the work con- 
 tracted for is the occupation at which the worker is cus- 
 tomarily employed. 
 
 2. Specification as to whether the work is to be paid 
 for by measurement of the work, by calculation of the time 
 spent thereon, by day’s work rate, or by completion in a 
 fixed time. 
 
 3. Statement of the rate of remuneration agreed upon 
 and the form in which said payment must be made. 
 
 4. The designation of the place where the work is to be 
 performed. Unless said designation is stated, the laborer 
 shall not be bound to perform said work agreed upon, if 
 said place be at a distance of more than five kilometres 
 from the place where the worker may be dwelling at the 
 time of the contract. In addition, it must contain the 
 special conditions agreed upon, and said special conditions 
 must be subject to and in conformity with the obligations 
 imposed by this law, although the same may not be men- 
 tioned therein. 
 
 The “convenios industriales” shall be registered in the 
 books of registry of the Secretary of the Council of Con- 
 ciliation. 
 
 Article 13. Agreements or stipulations such as the fol- 
 lowing shall be null and void : 
 
 1. Those which limit or prevent (to the detriment of 
 whichever of the parties concerned) the exercising of their 
 natural, civil, or political rights. 
 
 2. Those which mean for the laborer the impairment, 
 the loss, or irrevocable sacrifice of his liberty. 
 
 3. Those which, by reason of the precariousness of the 
 conditions of work, or of inexperience or lack of intelli- 
 gence on the part of either of the contracting parties, may 
 impose conditions that are in manifest discord with the 
 importance or the value of the services agreed upon. In 
 such case, the laborer shall be entitled to the same remun- 
 eration as that received by other workers who might have 
 rendered similar services from the time in which they 
 form part of a union. 
 
 Article 14. The “convenios industriales” must be made: 
 
 1. By the mutual consent of the unions of laborers and 
 employers. 
 
2. In agreement with the Councils of Conciliation. 
 
 The decisions of the Tribunal of Arbitration have the 
 same force and effect as the “convenios industriales.” 
 
 The “convenios industriales” and the decisions of the 
 tribunal, in connection therewith made during the first 
 year of the enforcement of this law, shall be valid for six 
 months, and afterwards one year. 
 
 The “convenios industriales” contracted before the issu- 
 ance of this law and which may not have any specified 
 term, shall be held to be valid for six months calculated 
 from the date of their making. 
 
 Article 15. The “convenios industriales” and the de- 
 cisions of the Tribunal of Arbitration have the same power 
 and remain in force even after the terms fixed by this law 
 are ended, until new “convenios” or decisions be substi- 
 tuted, except when the registry of the union of workers is 
 canceled. 
 
 These cancellations will be accepted only after the 
 period fixed for the duration of the “convenio” in which 
 they may be bound, shall have expired. 
 
 Article 16. Parties legally capable to sign a labor con- 
 tract are those who are over seventeen years of age. Per- 
 sons who may be less than seventeen years and over 
 thirteen years require the permission of the persons who 
 exercise paternal or maternal jurisdiction over them. In 
 default of the aforementioned persons or their representa- 
 tives to give authority, the President of the Municipality 
 may sanction the same, or the Alcalde in places where 
 Free Municipal Government exists. 
 
 In order to grant the authorization required by this law, 
 the Municipal President or the Alcalde, on receiving ap- 
 plication, verbal or written, shall fix a day and hour on 
 which to meet the parties concerned and shall decide at the 
 time of said hearing whether to grant or refuse the 
 authorization solicited. If the decision is in the negative 
 it may be submitted to the “Junta de Conciliacion” for re- 
 vision. 
 
 Article 17. Laborers who have shown good conduct 
 and rendered satisfactory service have the right to exact 
 from their respective employers letters of recommendation 
 certifying to said facts. 
 
 Article 18. In the industrial, commercial, or agricul- 
 tural establishments, permanent fields of labor, and other 
 such places, there shall be a table of Rules and Regulations 
 giving in detail the bye-laws which the employers and em- 
 ployees must observe during their time of service. 
 
 This table of rules and regulations shall be kept in a 
 place where it may be easily seen and read, and any 
 workers who may desire may be permitted to make copies 
 of the same. 
 
 This table of Rules shall be drawn up by mutual ac- 
 cord, and if there are any terms upon which both parties 
 cannot agree, they must apply to the Board of Conciliation 
 or the Tribunal of Arbitration regarding same. 
 
 Article 19. The last resort, the strike, must only be 
 had recourse to in case of extreme need. The surest means 
 of maintaining tranquillity and contentment among all the 
 laborers are described and summarized in the labor laws 
 herein and hereby decreed, and their fulfillment completely 
 guaranteed through the “Councils of Conciliation” and the 
 Tribunal of Arbitration,” which call for compulsory ar- 
 bitration after specifying clearly what the worker needs in 
 order to attain his welfare, whatever his social condition 
 may be. 
 
 Article 20. Besides the “Councils of Conciliation” and 
 the “Tribunal of Arbitration,” which will enforce this law, 
 the Department of Labor is also instituted and its func- 
 tions shall be to elaborate the perfecting of this law; to 
 supply information about industrial matters; to collect 
 statistics; to study the problems of emigration and coloni- 
 zation; to manage the co-operative works undertaken by 
 the Government of the State; to carry out the proper 
 construction of dwellings for the laborers ; to procure 
 insurance against accidents and to take care that the com- 
 panies that may be formed from time to time do not 
 abusively exploit this public necessity; to adopt bye-laws 
 and to superintend the “Mutual Insurance Society of the 
 State.” 
 
 Article 21. In order to form an “industrial union” that 
 shall have corporate identity before the “Councils of Con- 
 ciliation” and the “Tribunal of Arbitration,” the following 
 requirements must be observed: 
 
 With reference to employers : 
 
 Any anonymous society whatever of employers may be 
 registered as an Industrial Union of Employers if said 
 society consists of not less than three employers who have 
 together more than three factories in the same industry 
 or in similar industries. When they have fewer than 
 three, some representative authority of the factory or fac- 
 tories that they have existing is sufficient. The employers 
 are at liberty either to organize or to remain isolated. 
 
 With reference to laborers : 
 
 An industrial Union of Laborers cannot be formed by 
 fewer than ten of the same industry and in the same “in- 
 dustrial district.” 
 
 The syndicates of laborers that are actually formed may 
 acquire the character of “unions” on the sole condition of 
 registering themselves in the ‘Councils of Conciliation.” 
 
 Article 22. The “Industrial Unions of Laborers” of one 
 industry or of analogous industries may form an “Indus- 
 trial Federation.” 
 
 The “Unions and Federations” not registered or that 
 may have cancelled their registration, lose their claims to 
 recognition before the Councils of Conciliation and the 
 Tribunal of Arbitration. 
 
 The registry which is kept in the Boards of Conciliation 
 of the “convenios industriales” and other registrable acts 
 is public, and consequently every person has the right to 
 make himself acquainted with its contents. 
 
 Article 23. After registration a “Union” or “Federa- 
 tion” shall remit to the Boards of Conciliation a weekly 
 report of its financial transactions. 
 
 The Boards of Conciliation and the Tribunal of Arbitra- 
 tion must send every kind of statistical dat** to the Depart- 
 ment of Labor. 
 
 Article 24. All the acts necessary to comply with the 
 provisions of this law are prescribed in the term of one 
 year. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Section 1. 
 
 obligatory arbitration. 
 
 Article 25. In order to settle differences that may arise 
 between the laborers and their employers, Councils of 
 Conciliation are established and a Tribunal of Arbitration 
 with the organization and functions expressed in this law. 
 These Councils and the Tribunal for Compulsory Arbitra- 
 tion will undertake to enforce in all their extensiveness 
 
 3 
 
the laws regulating labor, being endowed with complete 
 liberty and ample executive power by this legislation. This 
 organization, the Tribunal of Arbitration, in essence con- 
 stitutes an independent power so that labor and capital 
 may adjust their differences automatically, seeking always 
 the form most just and fair to both parties concerned, 
 without haveing recourse to strikes, which are always in- 
 jurious to the interests of all. 
 
 Article 26. In order to take care of, inspect the work- 
 ings, and fulfill the terms of, the Labor Law, the State 
 shall be divided into five industrial districts. These In- 
 dustrial Districts are : 
 
 Progreso, which consists of the District of Progreso. 
 
 Merida, which includes the Districts of Maxcanu, Hunu- 
 cuma, Izamal, and Sotuta. 
 
 Motul, which*consists of Motul, Temax, and Tixkokob. 
 
 Espita, which includes Espita, Valladolid, and Tizimin. 
 
 Ticul, which consists of the Partidos of Ticul, Tejaz, 
 Peto, and Acanaceh. 
 
 Section 2. 
 
 BOARDS OF CONCILIATION. 
 
 Article 27. In each industrial district there shall be a 
 Board of Conciliation, whose object is to adjust the rela- 
 tions between employers and laborers, to settle differences 
 and to enforce the fulfillment of the labor laws in compli- 
 ance with the powers which this law confers. 
 
 Article 28. The ‘‘Councils of Conciliation” shall be 
 formed in the district of Merida by four proprietary mem- 
 bers and four substitutes. Two proprietary members and 
 two substitutes shall be elected by the employer, and two 
 proprietary members and two substitutes by the laborers. 
 
 Article 29. In the other “industrial districts” the Coun- 
 cils shall consist of a representative of each party and their 
 substitutes. The omission of an election in these cases will 
 not prevent the Councils from being formed, as nomination 
 by the Executive of the State may take the place of such 
 election. 
 
 The members of the Council of Conciliation shall be 
 changed every year, the elections to take place in the month 
 of December, and the new members shall take office on the 
 first of January. 
 
 Article 30. The internal ruling of the Councils of 
 Conciliation shall establish the details of the meetings of the 
 Councils and the forms of working which they will adopt, 
 the duties and faculties of the inspectors and the employees 
 in connection with the offices of these Boards, as well as the 
 form of election which they will adopt. 
 
 The members of the “Board of Conciliation” shall re- 
 ceive a salary to be fixed and paid by the State. 
 
 Article 31. The “Councils of Conciliation” shall have, 
 besides, a secretary in charge of the Registry and a clerk 
 to aid them in the work of the office. 
 
 Dependent upon each “Board of Conciliation” there shall 
 be a body of inspectors whose duty it shall be to enforce 
 compliance with the laws of labor and the contracts made 
 in conformity thereto. These inspectors must advise the 
 Councils, in case of any and all disputes, and in normal 
 times must provide information on the condition of the 
 industry and of the laborers in general. They shall also 
 serve as the source through which the Councils will receive 
 claims and petitions and every kind of complaint from both 
 laborers and employers, and they also shall make known to 
 
 the claimants, plaintiffs, and defendants the decisions of the 
 Council. 
 
 Article 32. The Council is empowered to nominate the 
 inspectors in its district. 
 
 Article 33. To commence with, two inspectors will now 
 be appointed in Merida and one in each of the other indus- 
 trial districts. Afterwards, such as are considered neces- 
 sary (in excess of these now appointed) to render efficient 
 service, shall be appointed as conditions may dictate. 
 These inspectors shall be required to illustrate and interpret 
 to the laborers the spirit of this law, explaining to them 
 the significance of the contracts and propaganda and the 
 conveniences and advantages that lie in having all the 
 laborers bound by written contract to their employers. 
 
 Article 35. When a complaint is lodged in the form 
 indicated by the bye-law regarding a new agreement to be 
 made or a violation of an existing agreement, the aggrieved 
 party, on making his demand, shall name delegates not 
 fewer than three in number; the inspector or the secre- 
 tary who may receive the demand shall summon the other 
 party, notifying him that he must name an equal number of 
 delegates so that the Board of Conciliation thus constituted, 
 may meet within a period of time not greater than five 
 days from the day on which the grievance is presented, 
 and commence to make a thorough investigation of the 
 matter in question. 
 
 Article 36. The delegates named to appear before the 
 Councils of Conciliation should be persons occupied in the 
 same industry in which the conflict occurs, except in special 
 cases which the Council may permit that it be otherwise. 
 
 Article 37. The unions or federations of employers, in 
 like manner as those of the laborers, may revoke at any 
 time whatever the delegate or delegates named by them to 
 appear before the Councils of Conciliation and the Tribunal 
 of Arbitration, substituting for said delegate or delegates 
 another who may be deemed more suitable. 
 
 Article 38. When the Council is formed, consisting of 
 delegates in conformity with Article 35, it shall proceed to 
 make the investigations necessary and to examine the mat- 
 ter in question, within a period of time not in excess of 
 fifteen days. 
 
 Article 39. If no satisfactory decision is arrived at, 
 the Council shall forward the proceedings, at the expiration 
 of the fifteen days specified, to the Tribunal of Arbitra- 
 tion, in which the same delegates named to appear before 
 the Council of Conciliation will be recognized. 
 
 Article 40. It is the duty of the Council during the 
 “period of Conciliation” to use its efforts to make the 
 parties concerned arrive at an agreement, either provisional 
 as an experiment, or final in the form of a “convenio in- 
 dustrial.” 
 
 Article 41. If the Board of Conciliation agrees to re- 
 commend a provisional form of compromise, the same must 
 be complied with by both parties for one month with all 
 the conditions of a “convenio industrial,” in order to deter- 
 mine the result in a practical manner, but both parties 
 have the right to manifest their dissatisfaction during said 
 month; otherwise, if none of the parties oppose the same 
 form during this time, it becomes automatically binding to 
 the same extent as a “convenio industrial.” 
 
 In case any of the parties concerned do not approve of 
 the tentative form of compromise, and are not satisfied, 
 the ordinary course of proceedings in such cases shall be 
 followed. i | | I -I 
 
Article 42. Any employer can be summoned to appear 
 before .the Councils of Conciliation or before the Tribunal 
 of Arbitration by a “union” or “federation” of laborers, 
 registered as such ; but the laborers may be summoned 
 before the Councils by the employers only in case they 
 registered voluntarily according to the law, forming an 
 “industrial union of laborers.” 
 
 Section 3. 
 
 TRIBUNALS OF ARBITRATION. 
 
 Article 43. A Tribunal of Arbitration shall be estab- 
 lished in the Capital of the State, with the form and the 
 powers assigned to it by law. 
 
 Article 44. The Tribunal of Arbitration has power to 
 decide without there being any appeal from said decision, 
 on all matters which may be presented before it; except 
 in very extreme cases, where it may be found necessary to 
 go very much beyond what is prescribed by the law. 
 
 Article 45. The “Tribunal of Arbitration” will be 
 formed by three members : 
 
 1. A representative of the working people, elected by all 
 the “unions” of the workers of the State. 
 
 2. A representative of the employers elected by all the 
 unions and employers of the State. 
 
 3. A presiding judge, who shall be named by the Coun- 
 cils of Conciliation, whose members shall assemble in 
 Merida once a year for the last ten days of the month of 
 December. If at said meeting a decision is not arrived at 
 regarding this nomination, the Executive of the State shall 
 designate a presiding judge. 
 
 Article 46. The members of the Tribunal of Arbitra- 
 tion shall remain in office for one year and may not be re- 
 elected for office the year immediately following that during 
 which they served. 
 
 Article 47. The delegates named by the industrial 
 unions in each dispute before the Council of Conciliation 
 shall have representative capacity before the Tribunal of 
 Arbitration also, when the conflict is referred to this Tri- 
 bunal. 
 
 These delegates are obliged to inform the Tribunal re- 
 garding all matters that may be to the interests of said 
 Tribunal to know, in order to facilitate their efforts for the 
 solution of the difficulty. They shall have the right to pro- 
 duce the proofs which they may possess and to assist in 
 all the investigations and debates and discussions, with 
 power to take part in them as well as to be present at the 
 voting of the members of the Tribunal, which in every 
 case must be by word of mouth. 
 
 Article 48. In order to be able to settle the disagree- 
 ments that will be presented before it, the Tribunal of 
 Arbitration shall possess the most ample authority; it 
 shall hear the testimony of witnesses and compel such 
 persons as may have knowledge of the case in question, to 
 testify under penalty of fine if they refuse to do so; shall 
 have free access to all the establishments, factories, boats, 
 and other places connected with the operations of an in- 
 dustry, or where any kind of work is carried on, or where 
 anything is done or made, or may have been made or done 
 that may have caused a complaint to be brought before the 
 “Council of Conciliation” or the “Tribunal of Arbitration.” 
 Said Tribunal may also command that the books, docu- 
 ments, papers and correspondence which the parties may 
 retain or of which they may possess evidence, be submitted 
 before the said Tribunal in evidence. 
 
 Article 49. The decisions of the Tribunal shall be by 
 majority of votes, and in them shall be set forth to what 
 industry or what similar industries said judgments are 
 applicable, and also whether said decisions are applicable 
 to only one “industrial district” or to the entire State. 
 
 Article 50. The time that elapses from the receipt 
 by the Tribunal of Arbitration of the appeal passed on to 
 them from the “Councils of Conciliation” until the deliv- 
 ery of their final judgment, shall not, in any case, be more 
 than thirty days. 
 
 Article 51. In calculating the periods of time specified 
 and fixed in this chapter, Sundays and days of national 
 holidays and feasts, shall not be included. 
 
 Article 52. If, during the sessions of the Tribunal of 
 Arbitration, the delegates declare that they have arrived at 
 a decision solving the question at issue and settling the 
 dispute, the Tribunal shall declare the proceedings closed 
 and the matter settled, and shall grant to the agreement 
 reached the force and value of a “convenio industrial.” 
 
 Article 53. The judgments of the Tribunal of Arbitra- 
 tion dictated with the binding force and value of a “con- 
 venio industrial,” are applicable to and binding on the em- 
 ployers and the industrial unions that may just be about to 
 commence their labors, or that may be organized while a 
 decision is pending, except in cases in which the decisions 
 may have been expressly limited to one “industrial district,” 
 separate and apart from that in which the new employers 
 and “industrial unions” may happen to be operating. 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS OF EMPLOYERS AND WORKMEN. 
 
 Article 54. The employer and the laborer must main- 
 tain reciprocally equal respect and consideration the one 
 for the other. 
 
 Article 55. The employer is bound by law as follows : 
 
 1. * Not to differentiate among the workers by reason 
 of nationality, whether in regard to salary, or to conditions 
 of living during the time of their service, or to the treat- 
 ment and consideration due to every worker. 
 
 2. To provide for the worker all utensils, instruments 
 and materials necessary for the proper performance of the 
 work agreed upon. 
 
 3. To observe towards, and to make observed by, the 
 laborer, good manners during the time of his service. 
 
 Article 56. The employer must take care that the tools 
 and implements of work belonging to the laborer are pre- 
 served in good condition, so long as said articles remain 
 on the premises in which the services are being rendered, 
 without its being legal, in any case, for the employer to 
 detain said articles for indemnification, guaranty, or secur- 
 ity, or any other purpose. 
 
 Article 57. The employer is bound to pay the wages 
 corresponding to the time lost by a laborer, who, being 
 present in the workshop or other place of labor, employed 
 to do piece work, task work, or to work jointly with other 
 laborers, is unable to perform his work through any fault 
 of the employer. 
 
 Article 58. The laborers who may have been trans- 
 ported from their homes to a distance greater than five 
 kilometres in order to render service for their employer, 
 must be transported back to their residences at the conclu- 
 sion of their time of service, at the expense of their em- 
 ployer, should said workers so demand. 
 
 Article 59. The laborer is bound : 
 
 1. To submit to the authority and direction of the em- 
 
 5 
 
ployer or his representatives in all matters pertaining to 
 the object of the work. 
 
 2. To render service with the proper intensity, careful- 
 ness, and attention due. 
 
 3. To comply with the rules specified in the table of 
 regulations of the workshop and industry. 
 
 4. To abstain from any and everything that would tend 
 to endanger his own safety, that of his companions in 
 labor, or the safety of third parties, such as persons in the 
 buildings, workshops, or place in which said laborer’s work 
 is being performed. 
 
 5. To observe good manners towards all parties during 
 the time of the contract. 
 
 6. To restore to the employer all unused material, and 
 to return in good condition the instruments and utensils 
 that may have been entrusted to said workers; not being 
 responsible for deterioration due to the normal use of said 
 articles nor for that caused by accident or by circumstances 
 beyond human control, such as war, pestilence, or the 
 elements. 
 
 7. To work, in cases of imminent peril, or of unforseen 
 circumstances of superior force, such as war, pestilence, the 
 fury of the elements, etc., for a time in excess of that which 
 is designated as constituting the legal day, and to receive 
 for such services a corresponding increase of remunera- 
 tion. 
 
 8. To reimburse the employer for the damages and 
 losses which, by abandonment, qualified carelessness or 
 negligence, or by disobedience of orders, may be occasioned 
 to said employer through acts or omissions on the part of 
 the workers, such as may have been overlooked when the 
 table of rules and regulations of the workshop in question 
 was drawn up and which therefore may not have been dealt 
 with or mentioned specifically in the same. 
 
 Article 60. The laborer is not responsible for imper- 
 fections in the work produced, if said imperfections are 
 due to the bad quality of the materials used or to defective 
 instruments supplied to him by the employer. Neither 
 can said laborer be held responsible for the imperfections 
 discovered in products, even if said imperfections were 
 due to the fault of said worker, once said products or 
 articles of manufacture have been accepted by the employer. 
 
 Article 61. The laborer must render in person the 
 work which he is employed to perform, but he may engage 
 a substitute when so authorized by the contract or by cus- 
 tom, or when the employer does not expressly oppose the 
 substitution. 
 
 The substitute takes the place entirely of the one he is 
 representing, having direct rights and obligations toward 
 the employer and vice versa. 
 
 The substitute shall not have any responsibility for the 
 selection made by the party for whom he is substituting. 
 
 Article 62. The laborer must guard faithfully and 
 assiduously the secrets regarding the manufacture of the 
 products in whose production said worker contributes 
 directly or indirectly. The revelation of these secrets 
 shall make the laborer liable for damages and for the 
 losses that may thereby be occasioned, apart from the 
 penalties that said worker may thereby incur. 
 
 Article 63. The labor contract is terminated: 
 
 1. By such causes as are expressly stipulated in the 
 contract. 
 
 2. By the death of the laborer, 
 
 3. By the conclusion of the work for which the contract 
 was made. 
 
 4. By circumstances due to superior force (war, epi- 
 demics, or the fury of the elements). 
 
 5. By mutual consent. 
 
 6. By the employer having to dismiss the laborer for 
 justifiable cause. 
 
 7. By the laborer’s voluntary withdrawal. 
 
 Article 64. The “convenios industriales” are terminated 
 by the causes set forth in Sections 3, 4 and 5, of the pre- 
 ceding article. 
 
 Article 65 .The following will be considered as cir- 
 cumstances due to “superior force” : Fire, explosions, earth- 
 quake, epidemics and pestilence, and other similar occur- 
 rences which are totally foreign to the will of the employer 
 and which may necessitate the suspension of work for more 
 than thirty days. 
 
 Article 66. The employer may not dismiss the laborer 
 nor may the latter retire from rendering service before 
 the expiration of the agreed or legal time of the contract 
 or the “convenio industrial,” or from the conclusion of the 
 work without justifiable motive. 
 
 Article 67. Justifiable causes for which the employer 
 may dismiss the laborer are the following: 
 
 1. If the laborer is discovered to have deceived the 
 employer at the time of his engagement by tendering false 
 certificates or forged references, or if the laborer repre- 
 sents his capacity, ability, aptitude or other faculties as 
 being greater than what he possesses in reality. 
 
 2. If the worker is found lacking in probity, in good con- 
 duct, or is found to inflict injuries or illtreatment on his 
 employer or the relatives, wife, or children of the same, or 
 against his chiefs or companions in labor. 
 
 3. If the laborer deliberately does material damage, 
 during the time of his service, to the buildings, works, 
 machinery, instruments of labor, raw materials, and other 
 articles related to the work, or if on his account any of the 
 same suffer damage. 
 
 4. If the laborer commits immoral acts in the workshop, 
 establishment, or place of labor during the fulfillment of 
 the contract. 
 
 5. If the laborer publishes or reveals any of the secrets 
 regarding the manufacture of the commodity. 
 
 6. If the worker compromises, by any act of gross care- 
 lessness, the security of the workshop or the establishment 
 or the persons therein located. 
 
 7. If the worker is found more than five times in thirty 
 consecutive days guilty of avoidable lack of punctuality, 
 or of absence from work, disobedience to the directing 
 personnel of the workshop or infractions of the rules of 
 the same. 
 
 8. If the worker presents himself at the working place 
 while under the influence of strong drink. 
 
 Article 68. Justifiable causes for which the laborer may 
 resign are the following; 
 
 1. If the laborer finds that the employer is dishonest 
 or is cruel to the laborer, or has knowledge of, or gives 
 consent to, the infliction of cruel treatment on the worker 
 by anyone under his charge, or against the wife, children 
 or older relatives of said laborer. 
 
 2. If the laborer suffers material injuries deliberately 
 due to the employer, while carrying out the terms of the 
 contract, or on account thereof in things pertaining to the 
 worker or that may be entrusted to his care. 
 
 6 
 
3. If the employer performs immoral acts in the work- 
 shop or place of work, during the time of the contract. 
 
 4. If the laborer finds that he is in any moral danger 
 or any members of his family who may happen to be in 
 the place where the service is rendered or who live at said 
 place ; said moral danger being due to acts or suggestions 
 of the employer. 
 
 5. If the laborer finds that his personal safety or his 
 health are endangered by lack of proper hygienic conditions 
 in the workshop or working place, when neither depends 
 directly on the nature of the work contracted to be done. 
 
 6. The supervention of illness which may prevent the 
 laborer from working for more than thirty days. 
 
 Article 69. Further, for the woman who is employed 
 and dwells in the home of the employer, it will be suffi- 
 ciently justifiable cause for her to withdraw from service 
 in said residence if the wife of her employer dies ; likewise 
 the death or retirement of any other woman who may have 
 in her care the management of the house. As also the 
 lactation of her child,- should she give birth to a child 
 during said service, if said lactation be incompatible with 
 the work she may have to do in the household. 
 
 Article 70. The employer who dismisses a laborer or 
 laborers, or the laborers who retire from service on account 
 of any of the motives considered by law as justifiable, do 
 not incur any responsibility by so doing. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MAXIMUM DAY. 
 
 Article 71. The maximum day of ordinary labor in the 
 field must not be more than eight hours daily, and forty- 
 four per week, with half a day of rest. 
 
 Masons, carpenters, smiths, etc., eight hours daily and 
 forty-four per week. In the public and private office eight 
 and a half hours daily, excepting one day in the week, 
 differing in the divers kinds of shops whose day will com- 
 prise ten hours, with a total at the end of the week of 
 forty-eight working hours. 
 
 In restaurants, hotels, and cafes, eight and a half hours 
 daily and fifty-one for a week of seven days, with one day 
 of rest. 
 
 The industrial workers that have not been herein named 
 shall have their hours fixed before the Councils of Con- 
 ciliation. 
 
 Extra work may not exceed in any case more time than 
 one-fourth of the ordinary working day, except in circum- 
 stances due to “superior force.” 
 
 Article 72. The day commences at the moment when 
 the laborer starts to work in the establishment or place in 
 which he must labor, and ends when the time expires that 
 is specified there. 
 
 Neither the time that the laborer spends for meals nor 
 that assigned to rest will be calculated in the day. 
 
 Article 73. All the laborers are entitled to half a day’s 
 rest in a week of six days, and regarding this they may 
 come to an agreement with their employers through the 
 Councils of Conciliation in each district. The half-holidays 
 of each week may be allowed to accumulate in the factor- 
 ies, offices, etc., during three months, and then the em- 
 ployees will be entitled to a week of vacation. 
 
 The day’s work must not be continuous, but the laborer 
 must have some rest during its course, say about an hour 
 and a half, but no more. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 
 
 Article 74. It is forbidden for boys less than thirteert 
 years and girls less than fifteen to work in factories or any 
 other establishment. 
 
 Article 75. Boys younger than fifteen years and girls 
 of less than eighteen years must not work at night, nor 
 may they be employed in any labors that would endanger 
 their health or their morals. 
 
 Article 76. The stipulation made regarding night work 
 contained in the preceding article does not refer to women 
 (adults) who are domestic servants or occupied in the care 
 of the sick, or enterprises of public amusement, such as 
 theatrical work. 
 
 Article 77. Males of less than fifteen years and females 
 of less than eighteen may not be employed in the manu- 
 facture of products that contain anything that may be 
 injurious to the health, nor may they be employed in places 
 that are dangerous. 
 
 Article 78. It is forbidden to utilize the labor of 
 children less than fifteen years of age in theatres, whether 
 in representations or in works of utility. 
 
 Article 79. It is forbidden for women to work thirty 
 days before parturition and during the thirty days follow- 
 ing, but they must receive their complete salary during this 
 time and their positions must be reserved for them. 
 
 Article 80. In establishments where women are em- 
 ployed there must be a special floor in a state of perfect 
 sanitation, in which women may give nourishment to their 
 babies — fifteen minutes every two hours — without said in- 
 tervals of time being deducted from the time allotted for 
 rest. 
 
 Article 81. The industrial managers, the merchants or 
 their representatives who employ minors to which this law 
 refers, shall be obliged to keep a register in which shall 
 be set down their Christian names and surnames, the place 
 and date of their birth, their residence, and the names, sur- 
 names, profession, and place of residence of their parents 
 or guardians and instructors. These data shall be com- 
 municated to the “Councils of Conciliation,” who will verify 
 same by means of their inspectors. 
 
 Article 82. The local municipal authority may order at 
 any time a medical examination for minors occupied in any 
 industrial or commercial establishment, and the withdrawal 
 of such whose health or normal development may be pre- 
 judiced by the class of work in which they may be engaged. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 salaries. 
 
 HrticlE 83. It is ordained that no salary shall be less 
 than two pesos daily, whatever may be the occupation or 
 the place of work. In the case of apprentices, the salary 
 shall in no case be less than one peso; for domestic ser- 
 vants of whatever condition or sex, the minimum salary 
 shall in no case be less than fifty centavos daily, and such 
 servants shall be entitled to receive good food, lodging, 
 and treatment. 
 
 Article 84. The minimum salary in each locality and in 
 each industry shall be fixed by the Boards of Conciliation 
 or by the Tribunal of Arbitration. The criterion for 
 this minimum salary shall be determined by the needs of 
 an individual of medium productive capacity to enable him 
 to live with his family and enjoy certain commodities in 
 
 7 
 
food, housing, and clothing suited to his social condition, 
 and to engage in the social relations which a man needs in 
 order to improve his mind. 
 
 The minimum salary fixed by the Board of Conciliation 
 shall run for the same length of time as the “convenios 
 industriales.” 
 
 Article 85. The investigation of what should be neces- 
 sary to enable the workingman to live in such state of well- 
 being, defined in the previous article, shall take place in 
 accordance with the regulations stipulated by the Boards 
 of Conciliation in the light of public opinion and weighing 
 all the considerations that the most exacting sense of 
 justice may bring forward. 
 
 It shall always be borne in mind that it is not a question 
 of salary, simply to maintain the actual position of the 
 workingman, but rather the necessity of raising him to a 
 condition superior to that under which he has hitherto 
 lived. 
 
 Article 86. The rising scale of wages of the apprentices 
 shall be fixed by the Boards of Conciliation and on the ini- 
 tiative of the inspectors. 
 
 Article 87. Salaries shall neither be given nor withheld 
 save in accordance with the stipulations of Article 91. 
 
 They are privileged and preferred in payment, the same 
 as in cases of indemnification for accidents. 
 
 Article 88. The payment of salaries shall take place 
 weekly. Every payment that is not in cash shall be con- 
 sidered worthless. The payment of salaries in kind shall 
 be prohibited, save in the case of employees of these estab- 
 lishments. 
 
 Article 89. Extra work shall be paid for in proportion 
 to the daily wage earned by the hour, with 50% added if 
 the extra work is done during the day and 100% if said 
 work is done at night. 
 
 Article 90. No deductions shall be made from wages to 
 make payment of insurance against accidents while at work, 
 in case institutions of this nature are ultimately established. 
 
 Article 91. In conformity with the terms of Articles 
 122, 124 and 130, the laborers may be fined individually in 
 sums up to fifty pesos, and in order to enforce the payment 
 of such fines, the Tribunal shall order the employers to 
 retain from the laborers fined, a part of their salary every 
 week, up to about ten per cent, of said salary, but provided 
 that the amount that the laborer would receive after this 
 ten per cent, has been deducted, does not fall below the 
 minimum salary absolutely fixed by law. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HYGIENIC and safety regulations. 
 
 Article 92. The sanitary state of the factories and 
 workshops shall be subjected to the following regulations: 
 
 1. They must be kept in a perfect state of cleanliness. 
 
 2. They must be so constructed that all effluvia arising 
 from sink-holes, water-closets, sewers, and whatever other 
 sources that might be disgusting and unwholesome, may 
 be minimized. 
 
 3. They must be ventilated in such a manner as to ren- 
 der inoffensive as much as possible, gases, vapors, dust, 
 and other impurities produced in the course of the indus- 
 trial or manual work and which may be dangerous to the 
 health of the workers. 
 
 4. During working hours a greater number of persons 
 must not be crowded together than what, taking into con- 
 
 sideration the capacity of respirable air, may remain to- 
 gether without detriment to each other’s health. 
 
 5. Any other rules whatever that the sanitary authori- 
 ties may specify. 
 
 Article 93. A certain specified time shall be granted by 
 the proper authorities for the accomplishment of changes 
 or repairs, or the adoption of new measures to safeguard 
 the health of the workers, or for their moral betterment; 
 and if, at the expiration of said time said changes have not 
 been made, the omission shall be considered an infringe- 
 ment on the law, unless the reforms planned are in direct 
 contravention to the text of the law. 
 
 Article 94. Unless expressly stipulated to the contrary, 
 it is estimated that the quantity of air required for the 
 salubrity of the rooms of the factory or workshop is ten 
 (10) cubic metres per head at the very least. 
 
 Article 95. In all the factories or workshops there 
 shall be placed a notice specifying the number of persons 
 that may be employed in each department, and their re- 
 spective tables of regulations may be arranged in con- 
 formity with this law. 
 
 Article 96. Factories and workshops must be provided 
 with adequate and sufficient sanitary installations, with 
 separate quarters for each sex, if the staff consists of male 
 and female workers. 
 
 Article 97. The work-room shall be conveniently 
 lighted so as not to endanger the eyesight of the workers. 
 
 Article 98. There shall be at the disposal of everyone 
 throughout the factory, a quantity of filtered water suffi- 
 cient for their needs. 
 
 Article 99. It is forbidden for alcoholic liquors to be 
 brought into workshops and dependencies. 
 
 Article 100. When the nature of the work is such that 
 it is necessary for the workers to change their clothing be- 
 fore entering and after leaving the work-room, there shall 
 be set apart for the workers of each sex, a room, distinct 
 from those in which work is performed, with sufficient 
 washing accommodations and baths. 
 
 Article 101. The “Junta de Sanidad del Estado” (The 
 Board of Health of the State) in harmony with the Labor 
 Department, shall draw up within the space of six months, 
 the sanitary rules which must be observed in every kind of 
 factory or establishment in which work is carried on. 
 
 Article 102. For reasons of safety: 
 
 All elevators, windlasses, fly-wheels directly connected 
 with a steam, oil, gas or other motor must be protected. 
 
 All dangerous parts of machinery and the apparatus for 
 transmission must be protected or disposed of or con- 
 structed in such forms and ways that they may be rendered 
 absolutely safe for all persons who work in the factory. 
 
 Every boiler of a motor employed for the generation of 
 motive power must be provided with a safety-valve, a 
 manometre and a water-mark in order to indicate the 
 pressure of the steam and the height of the water in the 
 boiler. 
 
 Article 103. In every place of work the doors must 
 open towards the outside. During the time that the work- 
 ers remain in the place, these outer doors and those of the 
 corridors with exits must be kept free of every obstruction 
 and unlocked and unlatched. 
 
 Necessary equipment for the extinction of fires must also 
 be installed in the buildings. 
 
 8 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 accidents during work. 
 
 Article 104. According to the present law, by “acci- 
 dent” shall be understood every bodily injury or hurt which 
 the worker suffers occasioned by, or as a consequence of, 
 the work he performs for some one else. 
 
 Article 105. The employer is responsible for the acci- 
 dents that may happen to his laborers caused by and occur- 
 ing during the performance of the profession, trade, or 
 work which they fulfill, unless the accident be due to 
 “superior force ’’outside of the actual work in which the 
 accident occurs. 
 
 Article 106. The industries or departments of labor 
 which place such responsibility on the employer are: 
 
 1. Metallurgical factories and workshops and those in 
 connection with land or naval construction. 
 
 2. Mines, saltworks, and quarries. 
 
 3. Factories and workshops where use is made of any 
 power other than that of man. 
 
 4. Construction, reparation, and conservation of build- 
 ings, comprising masoYiry and all its annexes ; carpentry, 
 locksmiths’ and forge work, stone cutting, painting, etc. 
 
 5. The establishments where explosives or inflammable 
 materials are manufactured, or where unwholesome or poi- 
 sonous substances are industrially employed. 
 
 6. The construction, reparation, and conservation of 
 harbors, railroads, roads, canals, dykes, aqueducts, under- 
 ground sewers, and other similar works. 
 
 7. Agricultural and forestation industries and under- 
 takings. 
 
 8. Transportation and cartage by land, ocean and local 
 navigation. 
 
 9. Works of street cleaning and cleansing wells and 
 sewers. 
 
 10. Deposit warehouses and store houses for great 
 quantities of coal, stacks ©f firewood and lumber for build- 
 ing purposes. 
 
 11. Theatres, with respect to their salaried personnel. 
 
 12. The fire department forces. 
 
 13. Establishments for the production of gas or elec- 
 tricity, and the installation or keeping in order of telephone 
 systems. 
 
 14. All work in connection with placing, repairing, and 
 removing electric and lightning conductors. 
 
 Article 107. The workers shall be entitled to indemni- 
 fication for accidents that may occur to them while em- 
 ployed as set forth in the second section of the preceding 
 article, which may render them either partially or wholly 
 incapacitated for work, temporarily or permanently, in the 
 form and amount established by the following regulations : 
 
 1. If the accident causes temporary inability, the em- 
 ployer shall assign to the victim an allowance equal to the 
 salary he used to earn, from the day on which the accident 
 took place until such time as he shall be in fit condition to 
 resume work. 
 
 If, at the expiration of six months from the date of the 
 accident the worker is still unable to resume work, the 
 allowance shall be such as set forth in the regulations 
 relative to permanent incapacity. 
 
 2. If the accident causes permanent and absolute in- 
 capacity for any kind of work, the employer must provide 
 the laborer with an allowance equal to two years’ salary; 
 but the allowance shall be equal to eighteen months’ salary 
 
 only, if the injury to the laborer is such that he will be 
 permanently incapacitated for the work which he regularly 
 performed, but which would not prevent him from devoting 
 himself to some other kind of work. 
 
 3. If the accident shall have caused partial incapacity, 
 although permanent with respect to the profession or the 
 class of work to which the victim had been devoted, the 
 employer shall remain under obligation to assign to the 
 worker, with equal remuneration, other labor compatible 
 with his state or to settle on the basis of an indemnifica- 
 tion equivelant to one year’s salary, as the employer may 
 prefer. 
 
 The employer is also bound to provide medical and phar- 
 maceutical assistance to the laborer until he is in fit condi- 
 tion to return to work, or until he is pronounced by cap- 
 able medical advice, to be in the condition such as stated 
 in Sections 2 and 3 of this article and does not require 
 medical and pharmaceutical assistance, which shall be given 
 under the direction of medical practitioners assigned by 
 the employer. 
 
 Indemnification for permanent incapacity to work 
 brought about by injury sustained during work, such as 
 defined in the Sections 2 and 3, shall be independent of 
 those determined in Section 1 in a case of temporary in- 
 ability. 
 
 Article 108. If the accident causes the death of the 
 laborer the employer is bound to defray the burial ex- 
 penses, said expenses to the employer not to exceed fifty 
 pesos Mexican gold ; and, in addition, the employer shall 
 make an allowance to the widow, legitimate descendants 
 under sixteen years of age, and relatives in the form and 
 amount which the following regulations establish : 
 
 1. A sum equal to two years’ salary that the victim 
 would have earned, which shall be paid to the widow, de- 
 scendants, or relatives, as the case may be. 
 
 The allowances that became due in case of death do not 
 include those which were paid to the victim during the 
 space of time that elapsed between the date of the accident 
 and his death. 
 
 2. The allowances fixed by this law shall be increased 
 by one-half their amount when the accident occurs in a 
 building, in the course of any work, the machinery or im- 
 plements of which lacked the precautionary and protective 
 equipment to which reference is made in Articles 102, 109 
 and 112. 
 
 Article 109. A Council of Technicalities in charge of 
 the investigation and study of mechanical appliances in- 
 vented up to the present time for the prevention of labor 
 accidents, shall be organized. This Board shall consist of 
 three engineers and an architect. 
 
 Services rendered by members of the Board of Techni- 
 calities shall be gratuitous. 
 
 Article 110. The Board to which reference is made in 
 the previous article shall publish a catalogue of mechanical 
 appliances for preventing accidents to laborers on account 
 of their work, and shall submit said publication to the 
 Labor Department at the end of four months. 
 
 Article 111. The Government, in accord w„! the Board 
 of Technicalities, shall establish under the by-laws and in 
 accordance with the terms dictated, what mechanical ap- 
 pliances must be adjusted to the machinery in use so as to 
 protect the laborer and to prevent accidents, as well as all 
 other conditions of safety and sanitation indispensable to 
 each industry. 
 
 9 
 
Article 112. The Board of Technicalities shall form an 
 experimental department, in which shall be kept the models 
 of mechanical contrivances planned for the prevention of 
 industrial accidents, and in which the new mechanism shall 
 be tested, and this office shall include in the catalogue those 
 devices which it recommends for practical use. 
 
 Article 113. The proprietor of the industrial establish- 
 ments comprised in Article 106 may authorize life pensions 
 to be paid to the sufferer instead of the allowances fixed 
 in Article 108, provided that said pensions are guaranteed 
 to the satisfaction of the victims, with the approval of the 
 Department of Labor, such pensions to be made in the fol- 
 lowing form or sum : 
 
 1. A sum of money equal to 20% of the annual salary 
 earned by the victim, which shall be payable to the widow 
 or the descendants under fifteen years by legal means, 
 and, in default of one or the other, to the parents or older 
 surviving relatives of the deceased, except in cases where 
 the Tribunal of Arbitration may judge that the latter do not 
 need said sum. 
 
 These pensions shall cease, in the case of the widow, 
 when she remarries, or if she should go to live in con- 
 cubinage or should become a prostitute; and in the case 
 of children or grandchildren, on their attaining the age of 
 fifteen years. 
 
 Article 114. Employers may substitute for their obliga- 
 tions of indemnification the insurance at their own expense 
 that they may have made on the laborer in question, against 
 the risks which the laborer takes and to which reference 
 has been made in each one of these articles, or those in a 
 duly constituted association accepted for this purpose by 
 the Labor Department ; but always on condition that the 
 amount which the laborer may receive therefrom shall not 
 be less than the maintenance apportioned to him by the 
 terms of this law. 
 
 Article 115. The precepts of this law are equally bind- 
 ing on the State and on the Municipalities when they are 
 the employers. 
 
 Article 116. The claims regarding accidents shall be 
 adjusted before the Councils of Conciliation and the Tri- 
 bunal of Arbitration and the parties interested may appear 
 before them in person. 
 
 Article 117. The responsibilities laid on employers by 
 this decree do not in any way liberate said employers from 
 those to which they may be liable according to the rulings 
 of the penal code, and what may be demanded of them by 
 either of the tribunals or both. 
 
 Article 118. Any renunciation of the rights to which 
 parties are entitled in accordance with the terms of this 
 decree ; and, in general, any agreement made contrary to 
 these regulations, shall be null and void. 
 
 Article 119. The Government shall dictate within three 
 months the by-laws and conditions necessary for the fulfill- 
 ment of this law, relating to this chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 STRIKES. 
 
 Article 120. The “strike,” the cessation from work by 
 the laborers, is the act of whatever number of laborers 
 who, being or having been in the employ of the same em- 
 ployer or of various employers, leave said employ entirely 
 or partially, or break their contract or refuse to renew it 
 or to return to their work, said discontinuance, refusal, 
 resistance or breaking of a combination, agreement, or 
 
 common understanding, whether expressed or implied, 
 made or initiated by the laborers with intent to compel the 
 employer to agree to the exigencies of the employees or to 
 comply with whatever demand or demands the laborers 
 may make, or with the intent of causing losses to the em- 
 ployer, or to inspire, aid, or encourage another strike, or 
 with the intent of helping the employees of some other em- 
 ployer. 
 
 The stoppage of work on the part of the employers is 
 defined in the same way, inverting the terms in the defini- 
 tion made above. 
 
 Article 121. The party who, in order to form, maintain, 
 or prevent strikes, uses violence or threats and assaults, will 
 be punished (apart from the fine which the Tribunal of 
 Arbitration can inflict on him) with arrest by the police 
 authorities. 
 
 Article 122. Every laborer who takes part in a strike, 
 and who is included in a “convenio industrial,” shall be 
 punished with a fine not to exceed $50.00. 
 
 Article 123. Every builder or master workman who 
 takes part in a strike of employers, who is party to a “con- 
 venio industrial,” shall be punished with a fine not in excess 
 of $500.00. 
 
 Article 124. He who institutes, aids, or encourages in 
 any manner whatever, an illegal strike or its continuation : 
 
 If a laborer, shall be punished with a fine of $50.00; 
 
 If a union or federation of laborers, the same shall be 
 punished with a fine from $200.00 to $1,000.00; 
 
 If an employer or any other person not a laborer, 
 said party shall be punished with a fine of from $200.00 to 
 $ 1 , 000 . 00 . 
 
 The following shall be considered as help or encourage- 
 ment: A gift of money or of anything of value, given for 
 the benefit of a group or union who are taking part in a 
 strike. 
 
 Article 125. The employers punished with fines im- 
 posed by the Tribunal of Arbitration, must pay said fine 
 immediately, and when the laborers are fined they shall 
 Jiave the option to pay in cash with a discount of 10%. 
 
 Article 126. When the laborers who do not form an 
 “industrial union” are in dispute with their employers, the 
 difference shall be explained in the Department of Labor, 
 a dependency of the Ministry of the Interior. 
 
 Article 127. The delegates of both parties, in number 
 not more than three for each party, shall meet before the 
 Labor Department, and they will consult with the em- 
 ployees named by the Department for the investigation of 
 the case. The “Junta de Trabajo” (Labor Council) thus 
 formed shall have functions similar to those of the “Coun- 
 jcils of Conciliation,” with the same times and terms of 
 formation and for investigations. 
 
 Article 128. If in the “Junta de Trabajo” (Labor 
 Council) no arrangement can be arrived at between the 
 laborers and the employers, a private vote shall be taken 
 among all the laborers concerned to determine whether 
 they shall go on strike ; the vote shall be taken by the 
 Council of Conciliation which has jurisdiction in the 
 locality of the dispute. 
 
 The result of this voting shall be made known publicly. 
 
 In the space of seven days after the result has been 
 published, the workers can go on strike when the result of 
 the voting has been favorable by a majority of seventy out 
 of a hundred. 
 
 10 
 
Article 129. When a decision and agreement satisfac- 
 tory to both parties is reached before the Junta de Trabajo 
 formed in the Department of Labor, the same may be reg- 
 istered in the form of a “convenio industrial,” provided 
 that the laborers concerned belong to a union and register 
 it. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PENALTIES. 
 
 Article 130. The violations of the terms of a “convenio 
 industrial,” or of a decision of the Tribunal of Arbitration 
 shall be punishable as follows : When it refers to a “union” 
 or “association of employers,” with a fine which may not 
 exceed a thousand pesos for each “union” and for each 
 violation ; when it refers to a laborer, with a fine not 
 greater than fifty pesos per person for each violation. 
 
 Article 131. Every infraction of the present law which 
 may not have a special penalty attached to it shall be 
 punishable by the same penalties. 
 
 Article 132. Every fine shall be imposed and enforced 
 by the Tribunal of Arbitration and shall pass into the Gen- 
 eral Treasury of the State. 
 
 Article 133. All persons, “unions,” or federations fined, 
 may plead for reconsideration before the same tribunal, 
 three months after their decision imposing the fine. 
 
 Article 134. Public action is permitted to denounce dis- 
 obedience of this law, and said Tribunal of Arbitration is 
 empowered to impose the fines in such cases. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 state mutual benefit society. 
 
 Article 135. The State will organize a Mutual Benefit 
 Society for the workers, by virtue of which every laborer 
 
 . who deposits a few cents from his wages will be able to 
 provide against old age and, in case of death, his kindred 
 will not be left in want and misery. 
 
 Article 136. This Society will help all the laborers of 
 the State, constituting thus the most practical and beneficial 
 insurance institution that can be conceived. 
 
 Article 137. The Labor Department shall dictate the 
 by-laws which will regulate the organizing and operation 
 of this Society. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY. 
 
 First: Decree Number Fifty-Nine (59) issued by this 
 Government under date of May fourteenth of this year, 
 creating the Council of Conciliation and Tribunal of Arbi- 
 tration, is hereby repealed. 
 
 Second : As soon as the laws contained in this decree 
 are issued, the Executive of the State shall call a conven- 
 tion for the first elections of members of the Boards 
 of Conciliation and the Tribunal of Arbitration; but what- 
 ever may be the date on which the Boards and the Tri- 
 bunal are constituted, the first period of their operation 
 and functionment shall terminate on the last day of the 
 month of December, one thousand nine hundred and six- 
 teen, so that the following ones may commence their 
 operations on the first day of January of each year. 
 
 Third: This Decree shall be published by solemn pro- 
 clamation throughout the State. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND REFORMS. 
 
 Merida, 11th December, 1915. 
 
 The Governor and Military Commander-in-Chief of the 
 State. S . ALVARADO. 
 
 The Secretary-General of the Interior. 
 
 RAFAEL AGUIRRE C. 
 
 3 
 
 APPEAL TO U. S. WORKERS 
 
 To the Workers of the United States: 
 
 We, laborers of Mexico, moved by exceptional circum- 
 stances, appeal to you in the interests of solidarity. 
 
 On the Border, which, politically, separates our land from 
 yours, there are at this very moment two armies, face to 
 face, awaiting the signal to throw themselves into a war 
 that, no matter which side wins, would nevertheless cause 
 great evils, both moral and material, to both of our coun- 
 tries, crushing at the same time the principles of a social 
 revolution that has no precedent in history, and which, 
 precisely for that reason, has secured the sympathy of 
 every progressive man in the world. 
 
 Before a catastrophe of that kind should sadden the 
 Jiomes of the toilers of both nations, we, moved by true and 
 just aims of international solidarity, with our minds free 
 of shameful prejudices, fearing lest the plans of our saving 
 Revolution should be destroyed by our foes, come to 
 you, our brothers of this hemisphere, to beg from you the 
 necessary support to raise a formidable agitation against 
 imperialism, agitation against a war between two brother 
 countries, the consequences of which we, the workers on 
 both sides of the frontier, alone would suffer; because the 
 
 instigators, the jingoes, those of the holy alliance — com- 
 posed of exiled Mexicans, reactionaries, land owners, Wall 
 Street grafters, and Clerical magnates^ — would remain in 
 their homes, quietly awaiting the moment for the distribu- 
 tion of the booty. 
 
 In the yellow press of your country, in the lectures and 
 meetings of monopolists and Clericals, Mexico is pictured 
 as an uncivilized region, in the hands of a lot of bandits 
 with no other flag or ideals than those of loot and destruc- 
 tion ; and based on this the justification of an imperialist 
 policy, advocated by some Americans who do not have any 
 more resemblance to you, the workers of America, than 
 people of another nationality; for they, like the rich of 
 every part of the earth, are only after personal gain, by 
 fair means or by foul. We, conscious of our rights and 
 duties, toilers properly organized for the struggle of class- 
 es, are anxious to tell you the entire truth about the so- 
 called “Mexican Case.” 
 
 Listen, Workers of the United States! 
 
 Until the day on which our social revolution broke out, 
 Mexico was, despite its wonderful resources, a land of 
 desolation and misery for the real producer, for the prole- 
 
 11 
 
tarians, because, sheltered by the Government — represented' 
 first by Porfirio Diaz, the Dictator, generally known as the 
 Czar of the Americas, and later by Victoriano Huerta — 
 ignorance, religious intolerance, alcoholism, and proletarian 
 slavery in its most terrible form dominated the land. 
 
 At the “haciendas” (farms), faithfully described by 
 Turner in his famous book, “Barbarous Mexico,” the In- 
 dian laborer worked from morning till night, hungry, bare- 
 footed, and ragged, being whipped by the boss, made brutish 
 by rum and fanaticism, and receiving in payment for his 
 work and his humiliation a poor salary of twenty cents, 
 which he was compelled to spend at the plantation store. 
 
 In shops, mines, and manufacturing centres the condition 
 of the toilers, although not so bad as in the “haciendas,” 
 was still terrible ; for twelve or fourteen hours daily, 
 poorly paid labor was exacted, without the hope of any 
 progressive legislation at all being enacted that would 
 secure to the laborers their emancipation as free citizens ; 
 at the mercy of their “owners,” Mexican or foreigners, 
 who, while the real producers bore the yoke of servitude 
 and suffered starvation, drove through the brilliant streets 
 of the City of Mexico in luxurious automobiles, and built 
 on every corner “villas” and palaces that gave the capital 
 of the Republic universal renown. 
 
 Public instruction, especially in the large rural districts, 
 was entirely abandoned, because it was the dictatorial pol- 
 icy ,in this respect, to drive the poor people to the great 
 “haciendas,” great mine and factory regions, where they 
 could be more easily controlled by the “rurales” and the 
 soldiers, instead of allowing them to go to school and get 
 an education, to become real citizens deserving of such a 
 title. 
 
 Workingmen in Mexico were killed if they attempted to 
 unionize or to strike; the peasants were slaughtered in 
 order to secure their property; the Yaqui Indians were de- 
 ported or sold into slavery in Yucatan, so that the great 
 landowners of the State of Sonora could sell their lands 
 to American syndicates. Anybody who pretested, orally 
 or in writing, was thrown into jail, where imprisonment 
 was worse than death. 
 
 And in the same way that equality of the citizens 
 existed only in the writings and speeches of poets and ora- 
 tors, so religious liberty could only be found in the text of 
 the Constitution, because the always absorbent Catholic 
 Church imposed its power universally by means of intrigue 
 and political bargaining. 
 
 Conditions of injustice and privilege such as these could 
 be found at every step, making the life of the poor — white 
 or black, Indian, or Chinese — a great deal more miserable 
 and degraded than that of the negroes of the United States 
 before the days of Lincoln. 
 
 Then the Revolution came, bringing as its ideals the re- 
 forms that we shall explain below, and which have all been 
 implanted in every State controlled by the Revolutionists. 
 
 First: The dividing up of enormous estates; that is, the 
 vast areas of land owned by the few, so as to promote the 
 formation of small properties. 
 
 (The Revolution is opposed to the possession of the land 
 by the few, as is the present condition. It wants every- 
 body to have his share, so that every one shall be pros- 
 perous, as cultivation by the individual is infinitely more 
 productive than when done on a large scale. The Revolu- 
 
 tion wants to restore to the people the lands which were 
 unjustly taken from them by national and foreign leaders 
 or “bosses,” backed by the dictatorships of Diaz and 
 Huerta.) 
 
 Second : Equity in the taxing of land and real estate. 
 
 (The Revolution wants rural land owners to pay in pro- 
 portion to what they have. At present the big land owner 
 pays an insignificant tax, while the small man who culti- 
 vates his own land is taxed to the limit. With the regula- 
 tion of taxes the towns will have richer municipalities, and 
 it will be possible for the small land holders to enter into 
 competition with the large estates. Indirectly, this will 
 have a moralizing influence on the authorities, because the 
 big land owners, having no privileges, will not have re- 
 course to bribes in order to keep such privileges. 
 
 Third: (a) Creation of an all-embracing labor legisla- 
 tion. 
 
 The Revolution will enact laws to prevent the extortion 
 of labor by capital, as now happens. There will be laws to 
 regulate salaries and determine the minimum wages, laws 
 regulating hours of work, and age limit of the laborers, in 
 order to protect childhood in its development and old age 
 in its decadence. Laws regulating the sanitation of the 
 workshops in order to protect the health of the laborers, 
 also laws regulating the manner of dealing with accidents 
 in service in order to insure the maintenance of the lab- 
 orer disabled at his work, etc. 
 
 (b) The establishment of municipal liberty as a consti- 
 tutional institution. 
 
 (A free municipality is the foundation of all liberties — 
 it is a school of democracy. Free municipalities insure 
 the freedom of the State and also freedom of the Republic. 
 This is one of the most important reforms of the Revolu- 
 tion.) 
 
 Fourth : A change in the system of the organization of 
 the army. 
 
 (At present the army is a large armed force under the 
 command of a single head, and it is found in all parts of the 
 Republic. Under the former system the liberties of the 
 States, municipalities, etc., were at a given moment at the 
 mercy of the President of the Republic, as with Porfirio 
 Diaz, or of the general-in-chief, as with Victoriano Huerta. 
 The army now has a different origin, different regulation 
 and distribution.) 
 
 Fifth: Electoral laws to guarantee the effectiveness of 
 the franchise. 
 
 (The electoral laws now in force have been made by men 
 whose desire is to nullify the effectiveness of the suffrage, 
 and the people are unable to enforce their views at an 
 election.) 
 
 Sixth: (a) Establishment of the independence of the 
 judicial power in the Federal Government, as well as in 
 the States. 
 
 (However often the Constitution may declare the inde- 
 pendence of the powers of the judiciary, this independence 
 was a delusion, in view of the fact that officials were ap- 
 pointed by the Executive and dependent on him, etc.) 
 
 (b) The revision of laws regarding matrimony and the 
 civil status of individuals. 
 
 (The Revolution, whose aim it is to elevate the Mexican 
 people by giving them perfect liberty, cannot allow matri- 
 mony, which is simply a contract, to be indissoluble, when, 
 by the mutual consent of both consorts, it is desirable to 
 
 12 
 
break it. If the will comes first, according to the laws, why 
 should it be subordinated in a matter which plays so im- 
 portant a part in human happiness?) 
 
 Seventh: The reformation of judicial proceedings in 
 order to render the administration of justice prompt and 
 effective. The revision of the civil, criminal, and com- 
 mercial codes. 
 
 (Who has not had to suffer through the criminality ®f 
 the courts of justice on one hand, and also from the never- 
 ending proceedings on the other hand? What man is there 
 who has ever had to deal with the courts that has been free 
 from the consciousness that he is at the mercy of all those 
 who form part of the court, even to the stenographer who 
 can delay the copy of a document, or the clerk who retards 
 a notification? Up to now the administration of justice 
 may be compared to the stage-coach, in that it moves pain- 
 fully slowly, and only for money.) 
 
 Eighth : The revision of the laws relative to the exploi- 
 tation of lumber, waters, petroleum, and other resources of 
 the country, with the view of abolishing monopolies. 
 
 (Who is ignorant of the fact that the insatiable and cor- 
 rupting spirit of the dictatorship absorbed everything — 
 sometimes for the benefit of the head of the system, Por- 
 firio Diaz; at other times to satisfy the voracious appetites 
 of those who surround him? Who does not know that it 
 was this policy of concessions which created the unbear- 
 able insolence of the foreigners residing among us? There- 
 fore, everything which may tend to destroy this monopoly 
 and humiliate this uncalled-for arrogance will be a patriotic 
 work, and this is what the Revolution promises to achieve.) 
 
 To these reforms must be added a general reorganization 
 of the school system in Mexico, paying especial attention 
 to the weak spot, which is the rural school system. As a 
 natural consequence, the conservative elements — priests, 
 professional soldiers, men having oil and railroad conces- 
 sions, rich land owners— knowing that with such reforms 
 their odious privileges were in danger, have tried, by all 
 means possible, to stop the progress of the Revolution, 
 promoting discord and jealousies among its chiefs, starting 
 reactionary movements abroad, and working hard and per- 
 sistently to provoke an international war. 
 
 Before the raid on Columbus, which was planned by the 
 filibuster of our foes, the reaction could not attain its 
 wish to destroy the Revolution; but now, unfortunate- 
 ly, it looks as if the reactionaries might succeed in 
 putting us American and Mexican workingmen face to face 
 on the battlefield. And this is just what Mexican organ- 
 ized labor is anxious to avoid by making a final effort, 
 appealing to you, our brothers in labor and misery; not 
 taking into consideration what petty “patriots” may say 
 about our conduct and proceedings. 
 
 We want to say, very frankly, to the American toilers, 
 that the Mexican people do not hate the real American 
 people, the people who still bear in their heart the princi- 
 ples of Washington and Franklin; we do not have any 
 hostile sentiment of any kind against you American labor- 
 ers. In the United States we hate only the monopolists, the 
 great oil and railroad kings, all those who have utilized 
 the riches of our land for their personal benefit; impu- 
 dently stealing from us the fruits of our labor, the same 
 as they do with you in your country : those very same com- 
 patriots of yours, whose only interests are their bank ac- 
 
 counts, and who have no love of country, honor, or high 
 ideals of life. 
 
 Be on your guard, Workers of the United States. The 
 Columbus raid, all the anti-Mexican agitation, all the meet- 
 ings, lectures, and publications of our foes in the great 
 American cities, are only for the purpose of drowning in 
 blood the desires of a brother people who have had the 
 courage and the strength to rebel against their oppressors, 
 of giving the workers of the world an example of the only 
 Social Revolution that honestly deserves such a name. 
 
 Be on watch, North American Comrades. Do not allow 
 any one to fool you with the lies of those who, as long 
 as they can make money, do not care very much about the 
 killing of thousands of laborers. Help us to secure that, 
 once and forever, the United States troops be recalled, 
 avoiding the great danger that there is and must be while a 
 khaki uniform remains in Mexican territory. And if, even 
 by this means, it is impossible to avoid a bloody struggle, 
 then, Workers of the United States, do as we would fain 
 do with our reactionaries — put at the head of your army all 
 those who are responsible for the tragedy, the magnates of 
 the Standard Oil Company and of the International Har- 
 vester Company, William R. Hearst, Harrison Gray Otis 
 of the Los Angeles Times, professional soldiers and others 
 who in any form and by any means are looking for inter- 
 vention in Mexico. 
 
 Workers of the United States, solidarity! 
 
 J. M. DURAN, 
 
 General Secretary Syndicate of Electricians; 
 
 CRESCENCIO FLORES DIAZ, 
 
 Carpenters’ Syndicate; 
 
 NABOR FERNANDEZ, 
 
 President Seamen’s Union, Port of Pro- 
 greso; 
 
 PRUDENCIO GONZALEZ, 
 
 President Dockers’ Union; 
 
 CRESCENCIO SANCHEZ, 
 
 General Secretary Bakers’ Syndicate; 
 
 MANUEL RUIZ, 
 
 General Secretary Masons’ Syndicate; 
 
 DAVID GONZALEZ, 
 
 Union of Clerks, Cooks, etc., and of Hotel, 
 Restaurants and Similars; 
 
 ANTONIO RAMIREZ, 
 
 President Commercial Clerks’ Club; 
 
 ALVARO VARGAS, 
 
 General Secretary Smelters’ Syndicate ; 
 
 NAZARIO PECH, 
 
 General Secretary Hackmen’s Syndicate; 
 
 CLAUDIO SACRAMENTO, 
 
 President Yucatan Railroad Men’s Union; 
 
 MIGUEL A. PRADO, 
 
 Syndicate of Machinists, Blacksmiths and 
 Boiler Makers. 
 
 Merida, Mexico, May 29, 1916. 
 
 13 
 
4 
 
 PRESIDENT GOMPERS ISSUES CALL FOR UNITY OF LABOR 
 
 IN ALL PAN-AMERICA 
 
 "To the Workers of All American Countries : 
 
 “A purpose has long been in the minds of many which 
 has gradually been taking form and seeking an opportunity 
 for concrete expression. Such an opportunity has been 
 born out of the strained relations that have recently existed 
 between the United States and Mexico and the great 
 anxiety aroused thereby in the hearts and minds of the 
 workers of both countries. There has come at least one 
 result that is potential for the maintenance of human wel- 
 fare in international relations. 
 
 “Just as the situation between the United States and 
 Mexico was most critical, there came to our country two 
 representatives of the Government of Yucatan, Mr. Carlos 
 Loveira, Chief of the Department of Labor, and Mr. Bal- 
 tazar Pages, editor of the Voice of the Revolution, bring- 
 ing an appeal to the workingmen of our country to use their 
 influence in the interest of peace and justice between our 
 countries. At the same time, in response to an invitation 
 from the American Federation of Labor, the organized 
 labor movement of Mexico sent as representatives to Wash- 
 ington for the purpose of holding a conference, Mr. Luis 
 N. Morones, Mr. S. Gonzalo Garcia, and Mr. Edmundo E. 
 Martinez. 
 
 “During the recent past, through personal representa- 
 tives of. the Mexican Government and information gained 
 from others in close contact with conditions in Mexico, it 
 became plain to us that the revolution in Mexico repre- 
 sented the cause of humanity and democracy, and that the 
 Constitutionalist government represented a genuine effort 
 on the part of the Mexicans to establish institutions of 
 freedom and justice. The American Federation of Labor 
 made an appeal to the President of the United States to 
 recognize the Constitutionalist government of Mexico. 
 
 “It has since on several occasions, when important deci- 
 sions of national policies affecting the United States and 
 Mexico were in the balance, been the instrumentality 
 through which the desires of the masses of the people have 
 been expressed, and further time and opportunity afforded 
 to Mexico for understanding our national attitude and de- 
 monstrating good will and good faith on her part. 
 
 “Because of this historic relation, it was felt that a con- 
 ference between representatives of the labor movement of 
 Mexico and representatives of the American Federation of 
 Labor would be a direct means by which the masses of 
 the people of both countries could wield an influence that 
 would counteract that of financial powers and of those 
 who were willing to precipitate international conflicts 
 for their own aggrandizement. 
 
 “At this conference, held in Washington, between the re- 
 presentatives of the Mexican labor movement and the Exe- 
 cutive Council of the American Federation of Labor, a 
 declaration was signed by all parties to the conference. 
 This declaration, in addition to provisions which con- 
 cerned immediate relations between our two countries, pro- 
 vided for future conferences between representatives of 
 both countries and declared in favor of efforts to establish 
 a Pan-American Federation of Labor. 
 
 “This was not a new thought for the American Federa- 
 tion of Labor. Upon several occasions the same idea had 
 been advanced, and in the proceedings of the 1915 conven- 
 tion of the American Federation of Labor endorsement was 
 
 given to a proposal for an organization that would repre- 
 sent human rights and interests in all Pan-American coun- 
 tries. The necessity for such a labor federation has been 
 made increasingly great through efforts to establish closer 
 commercial and political relations between the countries 
 included in the Pan-American Union. 
 
 "In the High Commission which recently made a trip to 
 Pan-American countries for the purpose of promoting bet- 
 ter commercial and industrial relations, although there was 
 no phase in any of the relations between these different 
 countries that did not in some way affect human interests 
 and human welfare, there was no one on that commission 
 who distinctively represented human interests and the 
 rights and welfare of the masses of the people. 
 
 “I have urged upon the United States Government that 
 this serious omission ought to be rectified, and I urge the 
 labor movements of all Pan-American countries to bring 
 the same matter to the attention of their respective gov- 
 ernments. But such representation, valuable as it would 
 be, is not sufficient to protect and promote the rights and 
 welfare of the workers of all countries. A Pan-American 
 Federation of Labor is not only possible, but is necessary, 
 it will constitute a ready and fit agency for injecting into 
 international deliberations at opportune and critical times 
 consideration for human rights, interests, and welfare. 
 
 “In view of the importance of this purpose, it is most 
 gratifying to find that the representatives from the State of 
 Yucatan are to travel through the countries of Cenral and 
 South America for the purpose of promoting a Pan-Ameri- 
 can Federation of Labor. The purpose of their mission has 
 our most sympathetic and hearty co-operation. The reali- 
 zation of an international alliance between the labor move- 
 ments of all Pan-American countries will constitute a genu- 
 ine parliament of men, one of the highest purposes to 
 which mankind has aspired. 
 
 “It is earnestly hoped that the representatives of all or- 
 ganized workers in Pan-America will come into it and con- 
 tinue correspondence with the undersigned. 
 
 “With sincere greetings, I am, fraternally yours, 
 
 (Signed) “SAMUEL GOMPERS, 
 “President American Federation of Labor. 
 
 “Washington, D. C., July 6, 1916.” 
 
 5 
 
 APPEAL TO MEXICAN LABOR 
 
 “American Federation of Labor, 
 
 “Washington, D. C., May 23, 1916. 
 
 “Secretary, Casa del Obrero Mundial, City of Mexico: 
 
 “Dear Sir and Brother: Permit me on behalf of the 
 American Federation of Labor to send fraternal greetings 
 to the Casa del Obrero Mundial, to the entire labor move- 
 ment of Mexico. 
 
 “The labor movement of North America has seen with 
 what splendid courage Organized Labor in Mexico has, 
 from the time of the Presidency of the late Franciscio I. 
 Madero, demanded and obtained recognition for the cause 
 of labor and justice in our sister republic. 
 
 “From time to time the American Federation of Labor 
 
 14 
 
has received confidential reports from delegates duly ac- 
 credited by your organization and others who came to 
 Washington in behalf of the Mexican cause. From these 
 delegates the Executive Council of the American Federa- 
 tion of Labor has learned how deeply the spirit of inter- 
 national brotherhood has guided all your struggles in Mexi- 
 co. We learned with intense interest of the historic agree- 
 ment between the Casa del Obrero Mundial and the Con- 
 stitutionalist Government, and signed on behalf of that 
 Government by Rafael Zubaran Capmany. 
 
 “We have learned with what bravery and determination 
 the Mexican miners in the State of Arizona organized and 
 struck work with their brother Americans of the North, 
 and won advancement for themselves and the cause of 
 international solidarity. 
 
 “All these facts point to the necessity of a still closer 
 understanding between the workers of all the Americas, 
 particularly in this crisis in the world’s history. To this 
 end, and to propose a practical method of mutual co-opera- 
 
 tion between organized labor in Mexico and the United 
 States, I suggest that at a date to be agreed upon, repre- 
 sentatives from the Casa del Obrero Mundial, and as many 
 other of the labor organizations in Mexico as possible, 
 meet for a conference in El Paso, Texas, with representa- 
 tives of the American Federation of Labor. Matters for 
 the mutual welfare of the sister republic could then be dis- 
 cussed and a future co-operative policy outlined. 
 
 “With you I agree that the future peace of the world 
 rests in the hands of the wage-earners, and this is most 
 cogently expressed by the organized labor movement of 
 each and all countries. 
 
 “I hope to hear from you as soon as possible as to the 
 actual conditions of the Mexican labor movement at the 
 present time, and to receive a reply to the suggestion I 
 have made herein. 
 
 "Fraternally yours, 
 
 “SAMUEL GOMPERS, 
 
 “President American Federation of Labor.” 
 
 6 COPSES TO MEXICAN LEADERS 
 
 Copies of the invitation to a conference were inclosed by 
 Mr. Gompers in letters to General Venustiano Carranza, 
 First Chief; Governor Ignacio C. Enriquez, of Chihua- 
 hua ; Governor P. Elias Calles, of Sonora ; Governor S. 
 Alvarado, of Yucatan; General Alvaro Obregon, Minister 
 of War; Juan Tudo, Secretary of the Escuela Moderna, 
 Mexico City ; Dr. Atl, editor of Accion Mundial, Mexico 
 City, and Judge Charles A. Douglas, Washington, D. C., 
 Carranza’s attorney here. 
 
 Explaining the occasion of the invitation, Mr. Gompers 
 wrote as follows to General Carranza: 
 
 “My Dear Sir : Because of certain conditions, informa- 
 tion of which has authentically reached me, I deem it my 
 duty to the working people of Mexico, as well as to the 
 people of Mexico generally, to write to the secretary of the 
 Casa del Obrero Mundial, making certain inquiries and a 
 suggestion for a conference. It seemed to me that a copy 
 of my letter should be in your possession for such informa- 
 tion as it may convey. 
 
 “The letter was prepared before I received a visit at my 
 office today from Mr. Charles A. Douglas, your legal re- 
 presentative in Washington, but I read to him the letter, 
 
 of which the inclosed is a copy, and he expressed his 
 approval of its contents and desired that it should be for- 
 warded, and also sustained the view that a copy of the let- 
 ter should be sent to you. I may add that the entire Mexi- 
 can situation as it now exists, as well as the immediate 
 outlook, was thoroughly gone into, and it may be interest- 
 ing for you to know that Mr. John Murray, who is also 
 deeply interested in the affairs of Mexico, was present at 
 the conference I had the pleasure of having with Mr. 
 Douglas. 
 
 “I think it is needless for me to say how thoroughly in- 
 terested and concerned are my associates in the American 
 Federation of Labor, as am I, in all that may make for the 
 advancement and protection of the rights and interests of 
 the masses of the workers of Mexico, and that we are 
 hoping and will be glad to aid as far as our ability and 
 opportunities go; in establishing higher and better stand- 
 ards of justice, right, freedom, and the concepts of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 “With assurance of high regard, I have the honor to 
 remain, very respectfully yours, 
 
 “SAMUEL GOMPERS, 
 
 “President American Federation of Labor.” 
 
 7 THE GREAT PACT 
 
 Signed by Mexican and American Labor Representatives, in Washington, D. C. 
 
 The undersigned, the Executive Council of the American 
 Federation of Labor and the representatives of the organ- 
 ized labor movement of Mexico, express our deep gratifi- 
 cation in the consummation of this conference, which we 
 hope and believe has laid the basis for better understanding 
 and has welded ties that shall bind together the workers 
 of our respective countries. 
 
 We are confident that personal conferences of the work- 
 ers of the United States and of Mexico will be a construc- 
 tive force in bringing about that understanding necessary 
 for better relations between our countries and for main- 
 taining peace founded upon a proper regard for the rights 
 of all. It is our opinion that this conference should be 
 purpose of agreeing upon plans for maintaining permanent 
 followed by another more generally representative, for the 
 
 relations and for the federation of the labor movements of 
 all the countries of the two Americas. 
 
 In view of present relations between the United States 
 and Mexico, we are of the opinion that such a general con- 
 ference is for the present untimely, and we express the 
 judgment that the holding of such a conference should be 
 deferred until later in the year. However, in the event of 
 an emergency which would make a general conference of 
 advantage in averting an international crisis, such a con- 
 ference could and should be called for the earliest time 
 mutually agreeable. To carry this plan into effect a joint 
 commission shall be chosen, to consist of two members 
 from both labor movements, to remain in Washington until 
 the present crisis is passed, the said commission to have the 
 power of calling a general conference if necessary. 
 
 15 
 
We hold this to be fundamental — no relations between 
 our countries can be permanent that are not based upon 
 the will of the masses of the people and in accord with 
 their concepts of justice. 
 
 We deem it an essential steptoward democracy and jus- 
 tice that there shall be established for the masses, who 
 have hitherto been without regular agencies for expressing 
 their views and desires, opportunities that will enable them 
 to have a voice in helping to determine international affairs. 
 
 The labor movements of the various countries constitute 
 the instrumentalities that can best accomplish this purpose 
 and give expression to national ideas and convictions that 
 have been too long inarticulate and impotent. 
 
 We direct that the president of the American Federation 
 of Labor and the official representatives of organized labor 
 in Mexico should keep in touch through correspondence 
 and that they be authorized to carry out the purposes speci- 
 fied in this declaration. 
 
 In joint conference as the representatives of the workers, 
 the masses of our respective countries, we urge upon our 
 governments to adjust existing differences without war and 
 to establish conditions conducive to permanent peace, with 
 justice. 
 
 We appeal to the workers and all of the people of the 
 United States and Mexico to do everything within their 
 power to promote correct understanding of purposes and 
 actions, to prevent friction, to encourage good will, and to 
 promote an intelligent national opinion that ultimately shall 
 direct- relations between our countries and shall be a potent 
 humanitarian force in promoting world progress. 
 
 It is an unavoidable conclusion that present differences 
 between our countries are the result of misunderstanding 
 growing out of inadequate or incorrect information ; that 
 the unfortunate consequences of past relations between the 
 United States and Mexico have formulated a national atti- 
 tude that questions the good faith of our governments ; 
 that existing agencies and methods of reaching an adjust- 
 ment of these differences are unsuitable for dealing with 
 these problems, which are fundamentally human problems, 
 and that the relations between our countries ought not to 
 
 be directed in accord with abstract standards of justice, 
 but ought to be keenly sensitive and responsive to the 
 human interests and moral forces. Therefore, we, the re- 
 presentatives of the organized workers, having the right to 
 speak for all of the workers, and in the interests of all of 
 the people, urge upon our governments the appointment of 
 a commission to be composed of high-minded citizens, fully 
 representative of our nations, to consider differences that 
 have brought our nations to the verge of war, and to make 
 such recommendations for adjustment as shall fittingly ex- 
 press the highest ideals of the great rank and file of the 
 citizenship of our two countries. 
 
 We direct that copies of this declaration shall be pre- 
 sented to the President of the United States, Hon. Wood- 
 row Wilson, and to the First Chief of the Constitutionalist 
 Governmen of Mexico, Gen. Venustiano Carranza, and that 
 it be given widest publicity among the workers of our re- 
 spective countries. 
 
 For the organized workers of the United States : * 
 
 SAMUEL GOMPERS, President; 
 
 JAMES DUNCAN, First Vice-President; 
 
 JAMES O’CONNELL, Second Vice-President; 
 
 D. A. HAYES, Third Vice-President; 
 
 JOSEPH F. VALENTINE, Fourth Vice-President; 
 
 JOHN R. ALPENE, Fifth Vice-President; 
 
 H. B. PERHAM, Sixth Vice-President; 
 
 FRANK DUFFY, Seventh Vice-President; 
 
 WILLIAM GREEN, Eighth Vice-President; 
 
 JOHN B. LENNON, Treasurer; 
 
 FRANK MORRISON, Secretary. 
 
 For the organized workers of Mexico : 
 
 C. LOVEIRA, 
 
 L. M. MORONES, 
 
 S. GONZALO GARCIA, 
 
 BALTAZAR PAGES, 
 
 EDMUND E. MARTINEZ. 
 
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