The Washington herald., 1914-03-01
By OWEN n. IovEJOY,
Iecretsry National Child Labor cOnnittee.

Secretary National Child Laoor SonniIeee
Exclusive servics. the Survey Pres bofeAu-'
few months ago Justice Mckenna.
speaking for the Supreme Court Oh the
United States. said: TT must be kept
in mind that we are one people and the
powers reserved 10 the States and those
conferred on the nation are adapted to
be exercised, whether independently or
s,oncurrentIy, to promote the general well
fare, material and moral"
In the interest Of this general welfare
beth material and moral, the natlonal
child labor committee has been leading
forces for ten years to abolish the in
human abuses Of child labor. Evidence
has been gathered and published show
ing little children in coal mines, cotton
mills, fruit and vegetable canneries,
oyster packing houses along the Gulf
Coast, the sweat shops OF our great
cities and the glass factories OF Penn
sylvania and the Middle West, and the
public has become aroused TO reallze
that child labor is a national extrava-
gance as well as a national disgrace.
II newspaper publicity and denuncia-
ticn from the pulpit and platform could
cure this evil it would already have dis
appeared Unfortunately child labor is
rot a sectional abuse. 1t exists wherever
Industries are Of nature to make II I'M
mediately profitable to the employer.
Those who oppost child labor In the
abstract are often quite as vigorous In
favoring or condoning it in the concrete
Difficulties Encountered.
When il has come TO the real issue
the attempt to get effective State laws
enacted-almost insurperable difficulties
have been encountered. The industries
affected have always opposed these
measures on the ground that such
laws would handicap them in COM
petition with other States. This objec-
tion has always been unfounded because
child labor is the most extravagant and
wasteful kind OF labor. Advanced laws
enacted in New York, Massachusetts,, or
Ohio have been due to the intelligence OF
the people rather than to their virtue
The results of such legislation have al
ways proven its economic wisdom New
ertheless the opposition to child labor
laws is still quite as effective with many
legislative committees as though it were
not founded on a fallacy-
When fairly good laws have been Sc
cured in a given state the people of that
state are helpless to protect themselves
from purchasing goods produced by eX-
ploiters of young children in neighboring
States and shipped into local markets
The States are. therefore. powerless eX-
cept by improbable, joint, and simulta-
neous action to effectively prohibit child
labor.
The national child labor committee has
become convinced that the only way In
which the evil can be banished from
America is by striking at the privilege
the exploiters of child enjoy through the
facilities offered by interstate commerce
The forces opposed TO child labor now
call upon the Federal government to for
bid such facilities to these unfair task
masters.
There are those who contend that the
Federal government is incompetent TO
do this. who look upon our republic as
a political expression of the Newtoman
theory-a mechanism controlled by sys-
tenn of checks and balances. This the
nry has never been sound as applied
to government. 1t is preferable to ac-