Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1919-06-06
A Word Chances
Constitution
Is Shortest Change People Of
State Have Ever Been Asked
To Pass Upon:

Lansing, June 2nd.-The voters OF
Michigan will pass upon constitution
al amendment at the fall election of
1920 that merely involves the question
OF whether or not a single word shall
be added to the present fundamental
law OF the state. That word is "men."
Section % of Article Five of the Consti-
tuition OF Michigan at present reads:
The legislature shall have power to
enact laws relative to the hours and
conditions under which women and
children may be employed.
II the people adopt the proposed
amendment the word "men" will for
ever, following the lapse of the requir-
ed thirty days, appear before the word
women in the above section. The re-
vised constitution of 19O7-O8 gave the
legislature power to enact laws rela-
tive ''to the hours and conditions un-
der which women and children may be
employed" but House enrolled joint
resolution No. |, officially known in
the records as the "Dunn-Kappler joint
resolution" proposes to now include
the male workers of the state.
Grows Out of Eight Hour Defeat
The Joint authors of the proposal,
Mr.. Dunn of Highland Park and Mr..
Happier Of Houghton, favored in part
at least, the socalled Holland eight
hour bill, until it became so loaded up
with amendments, eliminating various
classes of labor, as to make its passage
ridiculous. Aside from the perspective
constitutional objections, which this
amendment is aimed to cover, large
House majority believed any bill fixing
hours OF labor should come from the
federal congress as any attempt by the
state to fix working hours could very
easily prove serious handicap to
Michigan industry.
In the first place agriculture could
not exist under an eight hour day for
farm help which fact Immediately won
the emphatic opposition Of farmer
Legislators, who objected to the idea
itself for perfectly obvious reason that
such law, if passed, could only add to
the growing shortage of farm labor by
legally making other employment more
attractive through shorter hours.
Amendment Unique in its Brevity
Never before in the history of the
state has an amendment been proposed
that involves the change of single
word. Since the last constitutional
convention, summoned in October,
1907, legislatures have. enacted numer-
Gus laws dealing with male labor ques-
tions without any question as to their
legality. That past legislatures have
acted within their constituted authority
in these matters is clearly shown by the
explanatory note in the address to the
people submitting the 1907-08 revision.
Commenting on Section 20, Article V,
as quoted above, the committee on sub
mission, headed by Victor M. Gore Of
Benton Harbor, said:
This foregoing section is new one,
and is inserted in the revision for the
reason that doubt was expressed as to
the power OF the Legislature in the pre-
misses without such provision.
Now after these dozen years, or
since the women and children labor
proviso was adopted, the people must
decide whether or not they want the
word "men" inserted in this section to
safeguard the interest of the worker.
Some people will claim the suggested
change means more advanced labor
legislation, but boiled down this lone
word, in this case, carries no signific-
ance, as Michigan's labor laws are to-
day in the fore front of any state in the
Union.
M II DaEOE