United States 1913

Synopsis

On 4 March 1913, only hours before he left office, President William H. Taft signed the legislation (Public Law 426-62) "to Create a Department of Labor" with cabinet status. The first attempts to form such an agency occurred after the Civil War when labor leader William Sylvis called for the creation of a Department of Labor with a secretary chosen from the ranks of working men. Between 1864 and 1900 more than 100 bills and resolutions related to a Department of Labor were introduced unsuccessfully. A Bureau of Labor, without cabinet status, was created on 27 June 1884 with Carroll D. Wright as its first commissioner. Labor leaders continued to lobby for a cabinet-rank department with mixed success. President Grover Cleveland signed a bill on 21 March 1888 that set up a toothless Department of Labor within the Department of Interior. This new department was subordinate again with a Department...