The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-08-03
Vicious Usurpation

the child labor law This courageous address provoked
onary that La Toilette e
to the floor of the Senate June 81 and
press for constitutional forever protecting
the liberties Of the people against the encroachments of
By SENATOR ROBERT NJ LA TOILETTE
i Continued from last week)
i Several years Justice Harlan, of the wisest
Court, said:
when the American people the conclusion
that the judiciary of this land is usurping itself the
of the legislative department of the Govern
men and by judicial construction only is declaring what
trouble Ninety millions of peope-all sorts of people
with all of opnionsare going submit the
usupation by the judiciary of the functions of other de-
partment of the Government and the its part
declare what is the public policy of the United States
In opinion, the time of which Justice Harlan spoke
is at hand. believe that the decisions of the Su
Court and the injunction of the lower Federal
courts coming they have the elimination of long
of judicial usurpation have every citizen
who pretends to have for the welfare of his
country
believe that this question of judicial usurpaton is
now supreme issue.
Child Labor Law NuIIIaed Against Peoples WIN
The decision handed down by the majority of the Su-
Court May 15 last in what is commonly known
the child labor is merely of the latest
estations Of the usurpation of power by that court
Assuredly it is not necessary in this presence dis
the evils of child labor in industrial system
conscience of the people of this country long been
aroused that subject both by daily witnessing the
baeful results of pressing children of years
service of greedy and selfish employers by scientific
knowledge of the deterioration that from
priving childhood of its inherent right grow and de-
velop under normal conditions.
The question here is not whether the people wanted
the child labor That they demanded it, and that
Congress enacted it in response to enlightened public
opinion. is certain.
When first came to the Senate in 1906 the evil of
child labor the States one of the foremost
subjects of interest and discussion in Congress and through
out the country.
passed. But when the the bill was finally
there ss7 to 4e in favor in the House and 50
Back of this vote the pressure of pub
lie opinion tremendous expenditure of energy and effort
In addition to the mighty power of the American Feder
alton OF Labor and labor organizations generally the
womens organizations of the country worked un-
ceasingy untedy dsinterestedy passage the
bill The womens clubs the Consumers League, the
Women's Trade Union League the Federal Children's
Bureau all powerful factors securing
ment Of the child labor law.
i Any discussion of this subject must take into con-
the immense setback to human progress which
naturally follows the annulment of the child labor law
1t great task to the loss of enthusiasm
disappointment and encouragement the part
who have given years of life and service to when
1t is defeated The people made to feel helpless
Their Government appears to be autocracy
instead Of democracy.
nullifed that law. The pressing question is What
we going to do about it? In order that ques
ion 1t is to recall the leading facts in the
struggle between the people and the Federal Courts
the subject of child-labor legislation
The Congress first passed law this subject in
September That prohibited transportation in
interstate of goods made factory which
children under the of IA employed permitted
to work, children between the ages of
5 permitted to work than eight hours a day or
more than six days in week after p. before
6 Certainly this most moderate regulation and
afforded the minimum of protection to young children
employed in industry This law passed by Congress
in response to nsistent public demand The
that it was desirable commendable to employ
children in exhausng labor in factories, mines
and shops had given to the humane and nte-
gent view that such labor not only crime against
childhood but that it degraded adult labor
S was menance to the and hence government
itself This enlightened view has been approved
the reople of the country generallywth the exception
ossblv of certain Federal judges and always excepting
the powerful but selfish manufacturers States,
who able defeat child labor
: rtates.
! Effects Of Child Labor
The hearings before Congress upon this
a extended and exhaustive 1t shown at these
hearings that the mortality of children industry
many times greater than children of the age
not similarly employed. For example, in the House Re-
mort No 49, Sixtyfourh Congress- first session.
t It was pointed that mortality from tuberculosis
among the most youthful children employed certain
: cotton mills four times among children
of like not employed and that of the older chill
dren the mortality from tuberculosis
half times than children of the age
ment not so employed r
In the Senate Report No $685. Sixty-fourth Congress-
a first session, at page IL, it is said:
q "The evidence is overwhelming that unregulated
child labor does not promote healthy citizenship;
it tends to the deterioration of the physically and
the dwarng of children mentally through the denial of
f.h -. -A1x