Evening star., 1924-05-03
EXPLAINS "18 YEARS"
In CHILD LABOR BILL
National Committee Says Age
Limit Was Not Intended to
Be Arbitrary.
PROVISION FOR FUTURE
Set High Mark to Allow for I'm
foreseen Developments.

In order to correct an erroneous
impression in the minds of many per
sons regarding the eighteen-year age
limit in the federal child labor amend
ment, the National Child Labor Com
mittee today made public the fol
lowing statement:
THE amendment is not a law. II
is an enabling act, giving Congress
power to pass law. II government
tai power to pass laws had meant the
passing of them, we should long since
have had an entirely idle population,
for all the states have always pos
sessed power to prohibit labor The
amendment is simply the extension
to Congress of a smaller fraction OF
the power which has always been in
the hands of the states
"A definite age limit had to be iS-
corporated in any amendment Civ
ing Congress power TO regulate and
prohibit the labor of children. The
term Child" had to be translated into
a language common to all the states,
for they all interpreted IL differently
In some states a child means a person
under twenty-one years of age. in
some under eighteen, and in others
under sixteen. Some common de-
hNAAAAdhOA idO " DC 4Ounu
Eighteen-Year Limit.
THE choice of eighteen years as
the limit had no connection whatever
with the passage of any federal laws
either now or in the near future. The
federal law. which every one expects
provided tho amendment is pass
eds one similar to the first two
| federal laws. In neither of these do
we find the word eighteen" men
| toned. They concern children of
fourteen years and of sixteen. They
| forbid the labor OF children in fac
| tories under fourteen and provide
for an eight-hour day, and prohibit
| night work and work in mines under
| sixteen. These laws reflected the will
| Of the people at large at the time
| they were passed. We believe that
| they reflect the will OF the people at
| large today. No One would mediate
| tampering with them until the PEG
| pie at large see fit to do so.
THE eighteen-year limit was set
| because of the supreme Importance OF
permanence in the Constitution Of
the United States. Any change IL
| is to be in any way related to indus
| try. it must allow for the enormous
! and rapid changes which are taking
! place in our industrial methods or
| production. Mechanical invention Is
| making radical changes in our ma
! chinery almost daily. These changes
! have meant distinct increase in the
| element Of danger in industrial pro
| duction. Already We have machinery
which is considered highly dangerous
1 for any persons under sixteen. In
! deed there are some who hold them
! dangerous for any under eighteer-
| Some people have in fact crystallized
| this opinion into law. The state cf
Massa chusetts, for example, forbids
| any juveniles under eighteen years
| of age to take part in the following
! occupations: Blast furnaces, oiling OF
| cleaning machinery in motion, WORK
around railroad tracks or on railroad
| trains, work around boats as 1remef
| or engineers. operating any motor We
| hicles, working in any establishment"
where explosives are manufactured
| working about rapidly moving eleNa-
| tors.
Effect OF Amendment.
| LET US suppose that the state gov
eminent of Massachusetts, had pos
sessed no power to regulate the labor
1 of children and century ana I.
half ago the people had passed an
amendment comforting upon II the
mower to control the labor of children
under sixteen-or under fourteen.
| Such an amendment would have ade~
| ouateiy met the needs of that time:
| The long list of occupations now held
| so dangerous were not even IN exist
! ence. Consider a few. Within cur
own lifetime the motor venice iia
| come into being, the manufacture o.
| explosives with the exception OF
| gunpowder) was unknown, the nrst
| railroad had not set forth on It's hrst
! journey. There were no steamooaS.
was the hauling of loads up ana
| down by handpower. Such an amend
| ment in Massachusetts, would have
| soon to have been amended ITSELF
| "It is because Of our reverence Tor
| the Constitution that we want TO
avoid this experience in connection
with the federal child labor amend
ment. Who knows what the next
| twenty years, even the next ten years,
may bring forth in the development
of machinery? Let US not make an
amendment which will have to be dis
carded like an outgrown garment
| after a little while. On the other
for the rapid growth of this child in
dustry. AS one glances through form
er amendments, one observes that
they are all made thus, with con-
elastic quality about them all. The
thirteenth amendment, the one most
closely resembling the child labor
| amendment, reads as follows: Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude
. shall exist within the United
States or any place subject to their
| Jurisdiction. Congress shall have
power to enforce this article by ap-
propriate legislation Note how
vaguely the powers OF Congress were
/ here defined. People did not seem t.
be possessed by fear Of Legislation
Congress might pass. They believed
Congress-really the expression OF
their own will-would use it's power
| in the interests of freeing a people.
Events have proved that their faith
was justified. Can we not place tht
| same faith in Congress using its power
wisely in freeing our cllldren?