Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-11
CONSCIENTIOUS CONsTITU-
TIONALISTS

THE child labor bill as proposed in
i Washington is in many respects
measure to protect manufacturers in ad-
vanced states from the ruthless compe-
tition OF manufacturers In those Common
wealths which permit the exploitation Of
! child labor and sanction the transmuta-
ton OF the health and blood Of innocents
/ into dividends for the elect.
The two Senators from Pennsylvania do
not want such law on the statute books
| They tren,ble lest the sanctity Of the Con-
| stitution should be outraged, as II the
whole process OF social development in
the United states had not been aided by
the elasticity of that instrument, into
which, at different times, has been read
constructive authorization for such Fed
eral legislation as seemed requisite to
give expression to the deliberate wishes
OF the nation as n whole. Why should
either Senator be Mortified at the possi'
bility Of violating the Constitution? There
is a Supreme Court to guard It. and here.
tofore Il has done so admirably we'll
The proposed law does not prohibit
child labor. 1t merely provides that
goods manufactured by child labor shall
be excluded from interstate commerce.
They would not come into such commerce
with clean hands. so to say. wherefore,
being adulterated. or stained with chill.
dren's sweat and blood. or otherwise con-
taminated, let manufacturers who want
to make such goods make them: but the
best place to sell them. and the only
tr.ifh
territory of the State allowing such meth
DDS Of manufacture. That seems reason
able. doesn't It? 1t removes from the
decent manufacturer the burden of unfair
competition. doesn't II? There is moth.
ing in it to which a Christian gentleman
who wants to be fair and square could
object, is there?
But Senator from North Carolina.
who agrees with the two Senator's from |
Pennsylvania tearfully and in great sor- |
row explains that to put children to work |
in factories keeps them out Of Jail II |
also keeps them out Of school. and, mar
velous though il may be, the fact is that |
there are more children in school than in |
Jail. even In States which do not have
child labor II is conceivable, too, that
some children would prefer Jail to the
kind of work to which they are hand.
cuffed by an execrab!e economic system.
It makes no difference to either of the
Senators. we surmse, that
has by statute expressed
itself as hostile TO child labor, wherefore
in opposing the Federal statute both OF
the gentlemen in question misrepre-
sented the sentiment OF the Common.
wealth. What do they care? One is not
going back 10 Washington and the other
has Just been returned for six years. We
suspect that if either one Of them dis.
cussed the matter with child-labor ex-
ploiters back home he would find that
the said expIoiter was in favor Of such
labor for other peoples children. but
never for his own. Who ever met an ad-
vocate Of child labor who wanted to put
his own young offspring in cotton mill?
Industrially this is a mans country,
or almost a mans and womans country,
and not a child's country. AmeriCanism,
II II means anything. means the right Of
a 'child 10 his youth. the right OF his
parents TO earn enough to guarantee that
child an education or the right OF govern
authority to see that the child
gets an education no matter what the con
iition OF its parents. The industrial ef-
iciency for which we strive is an adult
efficiency, not a mere profit efficiency that
finds its source In child or pauper labor.
4 purpose Of a protective tariff is to as
sure such wages for adults that the labor
of children in factories will not be re.
luired. In voting against the bill in
the two Senators from this
State essentially voted against protection
md most emphatically they voted against
Americanism. in so far as Americanlsm
means a system OF industrial independ-
,nce that parallels the political independ-
snce on which the nation was founded. Z