The Washington times., 1922-11-06
No POWER
IN LAW To
F|XWAGEs
CONTINUED from First PageJ

Continued from First PageJ
Of such a course reiegaies the whole
matter Of prices of the realm OF legis'
lation.
"The liberty protected by the Fifth
and Fourteenth Amendments to the
Constitution includes the freedom OF
contract and the right to contract
with relation to ones business. 1t 10
undoubtedly true. as more than once
declared by this court, that the gen
eral right to contract In relation to
ones business is part OF the liberty
of the Individual. protected by the
Fourteenth Amendment. Muller VS..
Oregon. 208 ". g., 412, AL. In Cop
page vs.. Kansas, 236 ". s., !. IA, the
court, affirming the doctrine an
nounced in the Muller case, said:
The principle is fundamental and
vital Included In the right of per-
sonal liberty and the right of private
property--partaking of the nature Of
each--is the right to make contracts
for the acquisition of property
Chief among such contracts Is
that of personal employment, by
which labor and other services are
exchanged for money or other forms
of property. II this right be struck
down or arbitrarily interfered with,
there is a substantial impairment or
liberty in the long-established consti-
tutional sense. The right Is as es-
sential to the laborer as to the capt.
talist. to the poor as to the rich; for
the vast majority of persons have no
other honest way to begin to acquire
property, save by working for
money
Can Limit Hours.
"The public safety and welfare may
Justify the legislature In limiting the
hours of labor In mines and other
hazardous industries, and require
safeguards to be employed In con-
Quoting dangerous occupations. Such
regulations. however. affect only the
mode of operation and do not invade
the domain Of prices. They are
easily distinguished from the purely
economic question of how much the
employer shall pay the employe for
his services. In one case the bust
ness conducted is so inherently dan
gcrous that its regulation, as to
methods of operation becomes valid
exercise of the police power.
"The public health and safety de-
mand not that the business be con-
llSCdtCu, loL tiioS
therein be curtailed. or limited, not
that the ecuponlic control thereof
may be In the least affected. but that
the business be so.c0nducted that the
public health>-a safety may not
be seriously endangered. f-7N
-'Legislatior fending. to- fix the
prices at which private property shall
be sold. whether II be a commodity
or labor, places q Limitation upon
the distribution faof wealth and is
aimed at the correction of the IN
equalities of fortune which are i'll
evitable under our form of govern
ment, due to personal liberty and
the private ownership of property.
''These principles are embodied in
the Constitution itself. and to inter
fere with their freedom Of operation
is to deprive the citizen of his con.
stitutional rights. In other words.
regardless of public sentiment or
popular demand, such radical
change, II deemed necessary, should
not be accomplished by legislative
enactment or judicial Interpretation.
but by way of amendment in the
orderly way provided.
Quotes Hamilton.
Alexander Hamilton, whose keen
vision seems to have forecast the
A. .o~c chat xu0,,ld ay.ioa fho