The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-28
THE CHILD.LABoR AMENDMENT

THE CHILD-LABOR AMENDMENT
 In his speeches advocating ratification of the child labor amendment, Owen Lovejoy, secretary Of the National child labor committee, has been declaring that ''what the bill asks for is to bar from work children under fourteen, those under sixteen from more than an eight hour day and those under eighteen from dangerous employment" The bill may be one thing, the amendment quite an- other. The amendment says: "The con- gress shall have power to limit, regulate and prohibit the labor of persons under eighteen years of age"
 That raises the issue whether the states shall surrender another broad grant of power to the Federal government, or re- tain the right to regulate child labor within their borders and under their direct observation and supervision. Eco homie, educational, climatic and other conditions vary in the several states. Is there anything in the personnel or con- struction of Congress to indicate that as a body it possesses more humane spirit, greater intelligence and broader capacity to deal with this question of child labor than do the people of the states them selves?
 Ratification of the amendment would be another increase in bureacratic au- thority, which has already reached we'll nigh intolerable limit. It would further curtail the power of the states to control their affairs according to their condi- tions, needs and interests. It would mean a hard blow at local self-government. That the textile states, such as North Carolina and Massachusetts, have been offenders against the physical, moral and intellectual interests of many children, is no less true than that many of the states have adopted and are enforcing practical laws regulating child labor, and that there is strong tendency towards pro- gress in this direction the country over. There is no question of the need for fur ther improvement in this humane work. Nor is there any reason to believe that in the next few years, from the way the states are acting in this matter, there will be marked advancement towards perfection.
 Among the states that already have highly creditable child labor regulation, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee stand high in the llsr. The abuse of child labor, which is abhorred by thoughtful men and women the country over, is in process of removal in a sound American way. Forty six of the forty-eight states have child labor laws, and are continuously amend ing them for the better as improvements are urged by experience. In forty-four states the minimum of employment in factories is fourteen years. This is grad ually being increased. While it is true that excessively long hours of work are permitted in several states, and in few children are allowed to work at night, the situation as a whole has shown de- cided improvement during the last few years, and the tendency is generally in that direction. Thus there is no reason | for Encouragement, and certainly no jus tification for departing from successfully proved methods of remedying the wrong.
 If there be parental delinquency in the states, they are better prepared to deal with it in their own ways and because of their more direct interest. Education, agitation, publicity are powerful agencies for removing evils. Those agencies will accomplish far more than by centralizing authority in bureaucracies which are neither as familiar with local conditions as are the states themselves nor as ef- fective in bringing about the needful changes.
 The movement for protection of chil- dren has attained momentum that will continue advancing under its own force, because it is right and necessary for de- velopment of youth. It is not sectional No blanket indictment can be brought against any part of the country. There are as many abuses in the sugar fields of Michigan, Utah and Nebraska, as in the textile states of the South and New England. But the effect of the amend ment would be to destroy responsibility among parents with direct obligations to their children and to substitute the ar rogance and caprice of bureaucracy that would obstruct all the work being done now and the future progress on behalf
 of the child victims of injustice and greed. The amendment bodes no gooc for their children, strikes at parental au
 thority as the chiId's hope for fair treat
 ment and promises nothing in practica
 reform.
 OFFICIAL ELECTION FIGURES
 Official returns of the presidentia
 election give MT. Coolidge 15,718,78s
 votes John w. Davis received S,37S, ,96t