Muller Vs. NYC Case Study

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Minimum wage increased in 20 states with approval of lawmakers as we stepped into 2015. That when should the government to step in and interfere with business in free market in the United States remains a hot topic in the society. Muller v. NYC case took place at a time when the economy was booming, the so-called Gilded Age. However, that was an era of sin covered with fair skin because business owners exploited workers as dispensable commodities. NYC implemented a new law in 1896 to limit maximum working hours for bakers to 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week to help protect them as well as public health. Lochner, a bakery owner in NYC in early 20th century, was fined twice for not complying with the law. Feeling interfered by an unjust law, …show more content…

While the majority argued that bakers working condition was not so bad that may cause illness, Justice Harlan cited evidence from the book “Diseases of Workers” by Professor Hirt, pointing out that “The labor of bakers is among the hardest and most laborious imaginable”. He added that the “erratic demands of the public [for bakery]” placed “a great deal of exertion in an overheated workshop” on bakers and forced them to work for an incredibly long time, most of which was “at night”. This deprived “him[them] of an opportunity to enjoy the necessary rest and sleep”, which is tremendously harmful to the immune system. What’s more, the environment in which bakers spend most of their time was also detrimental to their health. Flour dust and heat, according to another writer, cause “inflammation of lungs and of the bronchial tubes”, “running eyes”, “rheumatism, cramp and swollen legs” (Reader 77). Most importantly, bakers lives became considerably shorter than others’. Not only were bakers more vulnerable to diseases due to long time of work and subsequently fragile immune system, health of the general public were also put at a huge risk. It is obvious that these workers would be the first group of victims when a contagious disease spread. Given the huge demands for bakeries, public health would definitely be affected by consuming bread and cakes directly produced and contacted by these bakers. The evidence and examples above clearly show how much rights violations were going on in bakery shops. Numerous hours of work was proved to affect bakers health, especially their respiratory organs, extremities and immune system, which shortened their life expectancy at a perceptible level. The Declaration of Independence endows each and every one of U.S. citizens several basic yet

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