River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1922-01-12

tutional amendment upon welfare legislation al
ready secured through action of state legislatures
The amendment is Endorsed among others by
George Gordon Battle of New York, Shipper Lew
is of Philadelphia, secretary of the legal educa-
ton committee of the American Bar association;
Charles w. Needham, solicitor for the interstate
commerce commission and former president OF
George Washington university. Robert L. Scott,
former assistant TO the attorney general; Frank
z. Walsh, Matthew Hale and Miss Gail Laughlin.
Frank p. Walsh former chairman of the Indus
trial Relations commission, appointed by former
President Wilson, and former joint chairman with
Chief Justice Taft of the National War Labor
board gives it as his unqualified opinion that
the passage of the amendment will "in no way
affect welfare legislation for women, either that
which is upon the statute books at the present
time or which may be enacted in future" He
warns that there is no anticipating the action OF
a court in the face of many differing opinions COW
ering points which appear quite obvious. He, how
ever, shows that long line of judicial precedents
have protected the validity of and CONSTITUTIONAL
ty of women's welfare legislation. Mr.. Walsh con-
cudes:
81 can see no way of approximating justice,
affecting the sexes, except by the passage of such
an amendment as your organization has proposed.
Indeed, without such an amendment, in my opin-
ion the late amendment guaranteeing women the
right OF suffrage would become mere abstrac-
ton"
tigan of Chicago a vice president of the National
Consumers league that the problems in their
final settlement will have to go before court,
the result of whose decision Is clearly in doubt.
IT would be terrible to deprive poor working wom-
en- of safeguards that have been attained by and
for them with long struggles, and in return give
them privileges they can never use. The thing
to do Is to push the specified changes in the
state legislatures"
In support of this view Prof. Felix Frankfurter
of Harvard Law school, counsel for the Minimum
Wage board of the District of Columbia, says in
part:
The various measures dealing with women in
industry-limtaton of hours of employment, pro-
hibition or regulation of night work, regulation of
employment of women before and after confine-
ments, minimum wage legislation-haye all been
sustained by the courts upon physical social and
economic factors peculiar to women All such
legislation necessarily circuEscribes the freedom
of action of the individual affected. For instance,
wherever legislation limits the periods when
woman may work before after confinement,
she may not work within the prohibited periods
even If she wants to-
'For reasons of policy, soc;ety's welfare is
deemed more important than the desire of the
rare individual who would insist on working I'M
der such circumstances In other words she is
under disability on account of sex, which does
not hamper man engaged in similar employment
she cannot contract freely; the man can. In the
same way, minimum wage legislation, and the
other types of law which have enumerated
in one aspect disabilities and treated such by
the courts. AT the very best the proposed amend
ment writes into the Constitution of the United
States dangerous lawsuit, jeopardizing the eff
forts of the nation and the states to deal justly
with its women workers. Undoubtedly it viii
largely retard If not render impossible every
effort of legislation protective of women work
ers for all such efforts win encounter the opposl,
ton of alleged unconstitutionality,P