John R. Commons’ Successful Plan for Constitutional, Effective Labor Legislation
Efforts to establish labor legislation in the nation during the early 1900s faced difficulties. A more compelling argument justifying a need for such legislation was lacking, its proponents knew, and while some labor legislation had been enacted, some had proven to be ineffective, and some unconstitutional. Undaunted by all this, John R. Commons ranged beyond his work on the American labor union movement, and entered a further stage in the development of his thought by creating as a supplement to collective bargaining by capital and labor a plan for constitutional labor legislation to be made effective by an "industrial" commission. His work on this plan among his other endeavors began in earnest but slowly in 1906, accelerated, and climaxed in 1916 when aided by his students and particularly by John B. Andrews, he published Principles of Labor Legislation (1916) (hereafter POLL).l Commons had impressive credentials to develop his plan. In 1906, he helped Richard T. Ely and others found the American Association for Labor Legislation (hereafter AALL), in 1907, he became the AALL's secretary, in 1907·08 he started teaching an undergraduate and graduate course on labor legislation (University of Wisconsin Catalogue 1907·1908, 133), and began to publish articles on the subject. Meanwhile, during the golden days of progressivism in the state, Wisconsin's Governor, Robert M. LaFollette had enlisted Commons to help draft legislation. Titling himself a "LaFollette Progressive" (Commons [1934] 1964, 121), he began a study of law, especially constitutional law, and those studies plus counsel from several lawyers yielded, he thought, "the best university education I ever had" (127). He became knowledgeable about Wisconsin's Railroad (Commons 1905) and Public Utility Commissions. Then, prompted by a request by LaFollette's