The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-21
Frederick Haskin's Letter
The Child Labor Tax.

ing child labor were strong enougb
ITO influence the legislatures.
To those who were working fc-
the abolition of child labor. a fed
eraI law prohibiting il in the wboIa
country seemed the only means
They were opposed By the beljev-
ers in states rights. who see
! threat of the complete destruction
of local autonomy in the rand
spread of federal authority ybicS
recent years has witnessed. Theso
persons declared that the Unite5
States is rapidly becoming a hBga
paternalistic bureaucraey- Tba
other side stands largely on tbe
merits of the Law they are aSxn-
eating. The same battle has been
waged in the same words a scoro
of times.
At any rate the opponents oF
child labor finally obtained the
passage of federal law against Il
Immediately the employers of chiI5
labor brought suit on the ground
that it was unconStitutiOnaI. fyhus
the ancient farce was repeated nv
which a law is passed and put into
effect ttfoTe the supreme ,coart
has decided whether it is a law or
not. Most of the manufactures
| gambled that It was not law ana
brazenly broke it as far as thev
cared to do so. Nevertheless ira
taxpayers money was spent 10 put
in action an elaborate machinery
for it's enforcement, which was en-
trusted to the department Of lahor
In 1918 the supreme court fulfilled
the hopes OF the employers of child
labor by declaring the act Uncon-
Stitutional.
The New Law.
Immediately the agitasion vas
renewed, and in the revenue bin
of 1918 was inserted the provision
by which a prohibitory tax rs lev
led on employers of child labor.
This accomplished the same thing
that the child labor law WAS m
tended to accomplish, and it Stands
on the constitution ground right
of the federal government 10 levy
taxes Even as there are other
ways to kill a cat than choking Il
with butter, so there are more WayB
of getting around the dear Old Con
stitution than the founding fathen
ever dreamed Of.
Now this tax law IS being en-
forced with good effect, it is claim
ed. The census figures on child
labor for 1920 are not out yet, and
only they will prove just how much
has been accomplished But there
49, -,
tax law has abolished child labor
in many industries.
Now it remains to be seen once
more whether it is really law or
not The customary suit has been
filed attacking the conStituttOna3tty
of the law, and this case is number
16 on the supreme court docket Il
will in all probability be heard and
decided this fall
The lawyers will have a fBe
time. Those on behalf of the Law
will point out that the federal gov
ernment has a right to levy taxes,
and that it has long employed this
method of abolishing or mitigating
abuses. The attorneys for the en-
ployers will say that If this is so,
then state rights are cream IoF
there is a method by which the
federal government can invade
them in a hundred places By levy
ing other similar taxes on indus
try it can control industry in
number of ways.
The mere layman gets little out
of it but a swimming head He is
inclined to conclude that our gov
eminent is a thing of e8pediency
and compromise rather than Of
principle anyway, and to hope that
the law will be upheld since II Is
useful. whether Washington and
Hamilton would have liked it or
not. They probably wouldn't feel
at home in America now in any
case.