Up until a century ago practically all labor legislation favored the employing classes. The evils growing out of the English industrial revolution, however, forced Parliament to give attention to legislating for employees, particularly for women and children. Gradually there grew up in England a system of labor laws that had for their end the regulation of hours and conditions of work. Women, for example, were forbidden to work in mines, while the employment of children under a certain age was prohibited. The influence of organized labor in that country, aided by a commendable spirit among the governing classes, has done much during the past century to make English labor laws the best in the world. It was not until much later that the lawmakers of this country took up seriously the question of labor legislation. Massachusetts was the first state to make a thorough investigation of labor conditions, upon which some excellent laws were later based. Other states followed the lead of Massachusetts until now all of them have done something in the way of regulating conditions of labor within their respective jurisdictions. Here, as in England, chief attention has been given to women and children. Neither of these classes is as competent as men to protect its own interests. Neither is as physically strong. Neither is organized so well. Moreover, the well-being of the next generation depends on the strength and vigor of the women and children of this generation.