Erdman Act

Erdman Act (1 June 1898) This law provided for mediation of railroad strikes by the Interstate Commerce Commission’s Chairman (see Interstate Commerce Commission Act) and the Bureau of Labor’s commissioner (until it was superseded by the Newlands Act, 1913); it was invoked 26 times from 1906 to 1913 to settle labor disputes by voluntary arbitration. It outlawed yellow-dog contracts by railroads involved in interstate commerce, until the Supreme Court struck down this provision in Adair v. United States.