The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-03-21
ABLE DISCOURSE ON
CHILD LABOR
LAWS
Dean A. A. Bruce Delved Into
/. Perplexities of the Bev-
eridge Bill.
BEFORE FORUM SOCIETY
Bill Prohibits Interstate r.
RS From Carrying Products
of Child Labor.

Dean A. A. Bruce of the university
of North Dakota law school, gave a
very able and interesting talk last
evening before the Forum society on
the subject of the Beverage Child
Labor bill which has been introduced
in the U. S. legislature by Senator
Beveridge and having for its aim the
prohibition of the carrying on inter-
state lines of the products of child la
Dor.
The speaker expressed himself as
being thoroughly in sympathy with the
child labor movement. He said that
the end was entirely justifiable, but
doubted the constitutionality of the
Beveridge bill itself. He said, more
over, that in his opinion, the power to
regulate commerce, conferred on the
federal government by the constitu-
ton, did not involve the power to de-
stroy; that the lottery case on which
Senator Beverdige relied, and in which
could prohibit the interstate transport
trolling. In that case, tho lottery
ticket was a nuisance, was useless, and
was legislated against by all the
states.
Method Reprehensible.
In the case of the products of child
labor, the product itself, the axe, the
coat, the nail or other manufactured
article, is in itself useful and legiti-
mate subject of commerce, and it is its
method of manufacture alone, that is
reprehensible. The speaker suggested
that the only theory on which the
child labor bill could be constitution
ally supported, was on the theory that
the child is citizen of the United
States, as we'll as the state in which
it lives, and it is the duty of the fed
eral government, as we'll as that of the
individual states, to protect the lives
and health of its citizens.
He called attention to the fact that
in the civil war over 5,000,00 men were
under arms and drafting was largely
resorted to: that no one would have
questioned the right of the federal
government to pass laws making it
criminal for person to blow off his
hand or otherwise mutilate himself so
as to destroy his usefulness as a SOL
der, and thus escape drafting.
England. Experience.
In the same way it might be argued
that the federal government has the
power to prevent methods of employ
ment which tend to shatter the lives
and morals of it's citizens. He referred
to this fact on account of the evil eff
fects of child labor in England, where,
under the factory system formerly
prevailing, it was almost impossible
for the British people to raise an army
of 100000 with which to carry on the
Boer war.
He said the theory might not be sup
ported in the courts, but it is the real
theory on which the Beveridge bill is
based and really more worthy of sup
port than the theory that congress
could, by it's fiat crush out from COM
merce any legitimate article. Dean
Bruce went further, and pointedf out
that if the arguments of Senator
Beveridge were carried to logical
conclusion, congress would be able to
shut out the automobile from inter-
state commerce, because it competed
with the carriage, Or the cotton made
goods because they competed with
those made of wood, since Senator
Beveridge contends that the power of
congress is absolutely unlimited. and
that the courts have nothing to say re-
garding the reasonableness of the
regulation.
In concluding his talk, Dean Bruce
stated that there was no real support
for this theory either in the decisions
of the courts or in the historical de-
velOpment of the constitution,