The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-12-16
STATUS OF THE
MINIMUM WAGE
COLUMBIA DISTRICT COURT
HOLDS measure uNcoNsTlTU.
TloNAL IN FACE OF SUPREME
COURT DECISIONS.

II a. { n (
The District OFF, Columbia Court of
Appeals last week declared unconsti
tutional the minimum wage law for
working girls and women which has
been in operation in the capital
The court divided two to one on
| the, question. The dissenting opinion,
rendered by Chief Justice Smyth, as
sailed the right of Associate Justices
Van Orsdel and Robb to rehear the
case, brought by local hospital to
|enjoin the wage board from enforc-
ing the law.
The majority opinion, however, de-
nounced the minimum wage law which
/ it declared would take from every
American citizen the most sacred
safeguard the Constitution affords,
the right to bargain and sell his labor
for the highest wage his skill and eff
cheney affords
$40 greater calamity could lbefall
the wage earners Of the country" the
opinion asserted, than to have the
legislative power to fix wages upheld.
Take from the citizen this most sacred
safeguard and the laborer would be
reduced to an automaton--a mere
creature of the state. tItyis paternal-
ism in the highest degree, and the
struggle of the centuries to establish.
the principle that the state exists for
the citizen and not the citizen for the
Estate would be lost
In holding the law invalid the court
Of appeals reversed itself from de-
cision handed down in June, 1921.
Inasmuch as the minimum wage has
had AS its foremost champions Cath.
Ole social workers, this decision is of
more than passing interest. We be-
ieve that the Rev. DR.. John A. Ryan
took leading part in framing the
original draft of the law which is now
declared unconstitutional.
THE courts opinion advanced in
legal phraseology is but a specimen
Of specious reactionary reasoning.
First OF all, a minimum wage law
establishes a minimum. not maxi
mum, wage. There is nothing to pre-
vent an employer from paying wage
In excess of that minimum.
In upholding the most sacred safe
guard the Constitution affords, the
right to bargain and sell his labor for
the highest wage his skill and and.
efficiency affords" is a fiction pure
and simple. In practice that alleged
right is reduced to a travesty. On
the one side, is the powerful capital
list who can select workers from the
eager many; and, on the other side,5
the isolated defenseless worker, whom
the spectre Of unemployment and
want forces to accept the employers,
terms. He does net bargain and sell
ION his own terms at all: he is at the
mercy of the employer. 1.-THE CAPT
Etalist is invulnerable in his wealth."
Cardinal Manning once said. "The
workingman without bread has no
choice but either to agree or to hun
ger in his hungry home. For this
cause freedom of contract has been
the gospel of employers and they have
resented holly the intervention Of a
peaeemaker" Under these circum.
stances, the worker is not enjoying
the exercise of any right whatsoever.
Pope Leo XIII characterized the true
aspect of the situation in the follow
ing: "If through. necessity or fear Of
worse evil the workman accept hard.
or conditions because an employer or
contractor will afford him no better,
he is the victim Of force and injus-
tice." II
If the Columbia District Courts de-
cision is to stand, why not put a ban
on unions, for by means of collective
bargaining they practically effect a
minimum wage?
1t is difficult to see how this de-
cision of the Columbia District Court
can stand, in view Of the decision of
the United States Supreme Court, on
April 8, 1917. upholding the constitu-
tionality OF the Oregon minimum
wage law In the case of Stettler VS..
O'Hara.
The Oregon minimum wage law. Z
which was passed by the Legislature
of 1913 as a result Of the efforts Of a
committee Of the Consumers League,
headed by Father Edwin v. O'Hara,
provided that 1T shall be unlawful to
employ women in any occupation with.
in the State OF Oregon for wages
which are inadequate to supply the
necessary cost of living and maintain
them in health" "A fixed wage has
been determined accordingly.
1t was claimed by certain employ
iers that this provision was in contra.
vention of the fourteenth amendment
to the Federal Constitution, In that,
by making the payment Of fixed MIN
imum wage compulsory, it deprived
them of property without due process
of law. The Supreme Court OF Ore
gon, on March II, 1914, upheld the.
law and recourse was taken to the
United States Supreme Court, the
highest tribunal for final adjudication,
with the result already mentioned.
When the Oregon industrial Wei
fare Commission was to be appointed
to administer the minimum wage act,
Governor Oswald West appointed Fa-
Their O'Hara as representative of the
public on the board. He served for
several years as chairman of the COM
mission and has been the leading fig