Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-06-02
CHILD LABOR
THE SUPREME COURT ANNULS
A MOST JUST LAW
According to Decision Handed Down
by Chief Justice Taft 1t Depends
Upon "WhOse Ok Is GOred"
(By Charles M. kelley

Washington, D. C.-Congress is
without power to end the evil of child
labor.
When it attempted to do so through
the passage of the federal child labor
law, "the ark of our covenant"-the
Constitution of the United States
was seriously endangered.
That, in a nutshell, is the decision
of the Supreme Court handed down
by Chief Justice William Howard Taft
In 1916 Congress passed a bill for
bidding the transportation of the pro-
ducts of child labor in interstate COM
merce. Two years later this act was
held unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court by to a decision. The ma
jority opinion was prepared by Chief
Justice White, reactionary Democrat
from Louisiana. He held that Con-
gress could not do indirectly what it
was not authorized to do directly.
The child labor bill professed to be an
act to regulate interstate commerce,
but the court held that the real object
was to forbid the employment of chill
dren in mills and mines and canneries.
Then Congress passed bill placing
a prohibitive tax on the products Of
child labor. The great Atherton cot
ton mills of North Carolina and the
Drexel Furniture Co. attacked the
constitutionality of this legislation.
Chief Justice Taft, a reactionary
Republican from Ohio, rendered the
opinion of the court. He held ga
court must be blind not to see that
the so-called tax is imposed to stop
the employment of children within the
age limits prescribed" Therefore he
held the act to be unconstitutional.
Some years ago Congress passed 4
law taxing notes issued by state
banks. The object of that law was
not to raise revenue for the govern
ment but to compel state banks to
stop issuing currency in competition
with the national banks. The mem
bers of the Supreme Court of that day
were not blind, and they understood
the real object of the law. Neverthe-
less, they sustained it as a legitimate
exercise of Congress- taxing power,
and our "ark of covenant" sustained
the shock. In a number Of otEer in
stances the courts have sustained
similar laws.
Congress also passed a law pro-
hibiting the transportation of lottery
tickets in interstate commerce. The
object of that law was not to regulate
interstate commerce but to suppress
lottery in Louisiana. The Supreme
Court, however, sustained the legality
of that law.
Apparently Congress can do pretty
much what it sees fit in the matter of
regulating interstate commerce and
imposing taxes SO long as it does not
attemept to use those powerful weap-
Gus in defense of human beings, or
to put an end to gambling on the stock
exchange in the necessaries of life.
Both child labor laws which were
thrown out by the Supreme Court un-
dertook to set up the following
standards:
No child under 16 years of age
could be employed in a mine or quarry
No child under Ia could be employed
in factory, mill, or cannery.
No child under 16 could be employed
at night, or could be worked more than
eight hours day or six days week.
These are regarded as the minimum
requirements of decent child labor
law.