Evening star., 1922-06-11
CONGRESS NOW TURNS TO
CHILD LABOR AMENDMENT
Lack of Uniformity in States Is Cited as
Showing Need Of Federal
Action.

Supreme Court was called upon to
nass on another case from the same
Judge in North Carolina. in which the
constitutionality of the act was ques-
toned, and again it decided that Con-
gress had no jurisdiction in this
matter.
Title overwhelming sentiment in the
country and in Congress in favor of
regulating child labor made il pos
slble to put through the second act
relating to child labor. 1t requires a
two-thirds vote of both houses of
Congress to submit an amendment to
the Constitution to the states. But it
is believed there will be no trouble
In getting the necessary o-thirds
in both Senate and House. once a vote
is had. Such an amendment will be
opposed by some who hold that the
states should have control of all such
matters. But the fact of the matter
is that the staes have had control,
have been in a position to control
/, child labor since the formation of the
government They have not, as n
whole. done so. There seems to be a
strong belief in many parts of the
country that there should be uni
formity in the law dealing with child
labor. and such uniformity is practi-
cal only through federal Legislation
/ and federal enforcement.
States Have Laws
of Varying Standards.
Today all of the states have laws
relating to child labor But some of
these laws are good. as compared to
the standard set by the federal law.
and some of them are not. In some
of the states the laws are we'll en-
forced, and in others they are not.
The federal Congress recognized the
Importance of having the government
look after the interests of the chill
dren when it established in the De-
partment of Labor the children'S
bureau. This bureau has done large
amount of valuable work for child
welfare. Among other things it has
investigated through its special
agents the question of child labor.
The bureau had the enforcement of
the first law of Congress regulating
child labor The second law was en-
forced through the bureau of internal
revenue.
The chldren's bureau has recently
made comparison of the state laws
regarding child labor and the federal
standard. Il found that in twenty
seven states the laws compare favor
ably with the federal standard 1t
found. too. that in sixteen of the
states and the District of Column
bia the laws are good in principle.
but admit of exceptions which really
lower the standard to a considerable
extent. In these states children are
permitted to work in vacations. at
work that lis not harmful" to work
for their parents and not for any
one else. and to work on account of
poverty" In five other states the
laws fall below the federal stand
ard. The last five are Delaware, Mis-
sissippi. Virginia, Utah and Wyoming.
Hours of Labor
Are Not Uniform.
The reports of the children's bu-
reau show, too. that in many of the
states the laws are not up to the
federal standard in the matter of
hours of labor. The federal standard,
for example. provides that children
from fourteen to sixteen years of age
shall not work more than eight hours
day, nor more than six days a week,
with maximum of forty-eight hours
a week. Under fourteen they are
not permitted to work. TWenty-siX
states and the District of Columbia
meet these requirements; two states
do so with exceptions, and twenty
others have lower standards, permit ;
ting nine or ten hours per day. and
ffty-four or sixty hours per week. !
Especially is this true in states where |
there are large canning interests.
The federal law said that children |
should not work between / pm. and
6 am. and twenty-siX jurisdictions. !
including the District are up to that
particular standard, while eleven have
laws little below the standard. and !
other states are distinctly below this ,
standard, five of them having no
regulations regarding night work.
An investigation of the laws re-
lating to child labor in some of the !
European nations show that they are
much in advance of the laws in this |
country in safeguarding the children. !
Belgium, Bulgaria. CZechoslovakia !
Denmark, Germany, Greece. Great ;
Britain, New Zealand. Norway. Ru- |
mania and Switzerland, for instance, !
have adopted the fourteen-year min !