United States vs. Darby Lumber Company

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     The Darby Lumber Co., owned and operated on this site starting in the Spring of 1919 by Fred Darby, flourished for many years as one of the largest, most prosperous, and respected employers in Bulloch County.  Mr. Darby employed many Bulloch County residents at his lumber mill over the decades and served customers throughout the state and across the South.  With the first federal hourly minimum-wage, the 44-hour workweek, and record-keeping requirements enacted in 1938's Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division began investigations of employers throughout the country, and one of those investigated was Statesboro's Darby Lumber.

     The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division investigation led to indictments of Darby and several other lumber companies in the area in November 1939 for "employ[ing] workmen at less than the prescribed minimum wage" and "failure to keep records showing the hours worked each day a week by each of his employees," in the words of the Supreme Court.  Although local violations of the Act were not widespread, investigations of firms in the southern lumber industry like Darby Lumber Co. were thought by some to stem from the industry's criticism of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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Supported by the Jack N & Addie D. Averitt Foundation