1898 - Commerce

Commerce

The U.S. Supreme Court rules 7 to 2 February 28 in Holden v. Hardy that an 8-hour law adopted by the Utah legislature at its inaugural session 2 years ago was not unconstitutional. The first U.S. 8-hour law, it applied to underground mines, smelters, and ore-reduction works; Montana will adopt a similar law in 1901 as a result of the Court's landmark decision; Arizona and Nevada will follow suit in 1903, and other Western mining states will do the same.

The U.S. Supreme Court sustains an 1895 Illinois inheritance tax law April 25 in Morgan v. Illinois Trust and Savings Bank.

The Erdman Act adopted by Congress June 1 outlaws "yellow dog" contracts for employees of companies controlled by the Interstate Commerce Commission; the law makes it a criminal offense for railroads to dismiss employees or discriminate against prospective employees alleged to have participated in union activities (see Adair v. U.S., 1908).

Congress imposes the first U.S. federal tax on legacies June 13 in a War Revenue Act that also provides for excise duties and taxes on tea, tobacco, liquor, and amusements. The measure authorizes sale of $200 million worth of 3 percent bonds.

Congress approves a uniform bankruptcy law July 1.

Mining engineer and former city mayor Adolph Sutro of 1878 Sutro Tunnel fame dies at San Francisco August 8 at age 68.

Virden, Illinois, coal mine operators attempt to break a strike by importing 200 nonunion black workers, an action that provokes violence (see 1897): 14 miners are killed and 25 wounded in the October 12 Mt. Olive massacre that brings demands for a union (see 1899).

Canada's Klondike yields more than $10 million worth of gold, producing at a rate that will be sustained through 1904 (see 1897).

A gold strike at Nome, Alaska, brings another rush of prospectors to the area (see 1886; Fairbanks, 1902).

Illinois Steel of Chicago and Lorrain Steel acquire Minnesota Mining with backing from J. P. Morgan & Company, obtaining a fleet of Great Lakes ore ships and railroads in the Mesabi iron range and in the Chicago area (see 1896; U.S. Steel, 1901).

Republic Steel is created by a merger of Ohio and Pennsylvania firms (see 1937).

John W. Gates becomes president of the American Steel & Wire, which has a virtual monopoly in barbed wire (see agriculture, 1875). He has established his own barbed wire company at St. Louis and negotiated a series of mergers and consolidations (see Tennessee Coal & Iron, 1906).

Businessman Warren Delano dies at Alconac, New York, January 17 at age 88, having made a fortune in the Chinese opium trade; John Murray Forbes at Boston October 12 at age 85, having grown his Chinese opium fortune with investments in railroads.