The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-08-18
END CHILD LABOR
BY AMENDING
CONSTITUTION

NEW YORK, Aug. I'm the
! face of the recent decision of the
supreme court defeating for the sec
ond time attempts by congress to
abolish child labor, the adoption of
an amendment to the constitution is
now called for as the most certain
method of bringing about effective
| child labor legislation, according to
an article in the current number of
| the American Labor Legislation Re
view by Thomas |. Parkinson, a lead
| ing authority on constitutional law.
A resolution providing for a con
stitutional amendment against child
labor has just been introduced in
congress by Senator Medill McCor-
mick with the endorsement of or
gained labor and many national SO
cial service organizations.
"While the courts decision against
the child labor law" says Mr.. Park
inson, "does not completely exclude
the taxing power from use as a
means of improving labor conditions
or relations, nevertheless proponents
of child labor legislation will prob
ably prefer not to make further eff
forts to discover the extent to which
the lark of our covenant permits of
governmental protection for the chill
dren of the nation"
Mr.. Parkinson asserts that "the
child labor tax seems to have been
the straw that broke the camel's
back since the supreme court had
in earlier decisions and in other con-
nections sustained the use of con-
gress of its taxing power for reg
ulatory as well as for revenue pur-
poses-notably in levying prohibitive
taxes on oleomargine, on poisonous
phosphorus matches and on underis-
able contracts for the future sale of
cotton, as well as regulatory taxes
on the sale of narcotic drugs.
"The fate of the tax law recalls
the like fate of the original child
labor law which prohibited the ship
ment of child labor products in in
terstate commerce." he continued.
"The supreme court in a long series
of cases had upheld the power of
congress to prohibit interstate trans
portation in commodities and per-
sons, not because such transporta-
ton was detrimental to interstate
commerce or to the instrumentalities
of transportation, but because it was
deemed detrimental to the public
morals or the public welfare. The
court had sustained and enforced
congressional prohibitions of inter
state shipment of lottery tickets and
the transportation of women con-
trary to the Mann act.
"When, therefore, congress passed
the Child Labor Act of 1916 it was
not without reasonable grounds for
believing that it was exercising a
power expressly conferred by the
constitution, but the supreme court
in 1917 held that congress could not
prohibit interstate transportation of
child labor products and declared
the act unconstitutional. The COM
mercc power, tough sufficiently elias
tic to authorize every previous pro
hibition of interstate transportation,
snapped in the stretching when eX-
tended to a prohibition intended to
discourage child labor"
The adverse action of the court in
singing out child labor laws for
disapproval will be effectively over
come by amending the constitution to
make possible "what two successive
congresses have by large majorities
declared as desirable in the interest
of the country's welfare" yet Mr..
Parkinson expresses the feeling that
at would have been better to have
found within the constitution, which
from it's adoption has been expanded
and developed to meet new needs,
the power to sustain either by pro-
hibition of interstate commerce or by
taxation the congressional purpose
to restrain those few selfish employ
ers who persist in sapping the
strength of the nation for that little
benefit that comes from cheap child
labor"