The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-03-07
STATE
VICTORY
CITED .
President Won Bitter Fight
for Reform-2,775,0o0
Children Affected.
By JOHN T. LAMBERT,
Cosmopolitan NeMa Service.

President Coolidge may be
forced to make a slashing battle
In Congress to save his anti-child-
labor amendment from defeat.
More than 2,775,O0O children in
sweatshap, factory, mines and in
dustrial establishments are affected
by his desire to save them from
child slavery"
At least 100000 women the
country over, allied in the most
active organizations, are united
with him to check the toll Of illit-
oracy, broken health, and impaired
mentality which child-labor exacts.
Victor in Massachusetts,.
President Coolidge demanded the
abolition Of child-labor in his lnau-
guraI address. When governor of
Massachusetts,, he signed the forty
eight hour law which went a long
way toward abolishing child-labor
In that industrial State. His sue
cessor, Governor Cox, has repeatedly
declared that the corporations can
never be successful in their cam
paigns to repeal 1t there.
President Coolidge, it is known,
will regard the enactment Of the
anti.child-labor amendment as one
of the distinctive triumphs Of his
administration. Congress has made
frequent vocal demonstrations Of its
willingness to pass the amendment
but some of the leaders of the legis-
lative effort Of the women's organ
lzations fear the alleged existence
CT an under-cover effort to delay
action until this session of Congress
10 adjourned.
Although the subject is by no
means new to Congress, having been
vital issue since a 5-to-4 Supreme
Court decision threw out the old
law against child employment, the
Judiciary Committees in both SEN
ate and House have as yet failed
to present a definite amendment to
the Constitution for a decision by
either branch.
@ House Committee Hearings.
The House committee is now
holding prolonged hearings on the
age-old subject. In the Senate,
Messrs. Shortridge Of California,
Colt of Rhode Island and Walsh Of
Montana have drafted a proposed
amendment which the entire com.
mittee will be asked to pass upon
sometime in the future. The
amendment is as follows:
"The Congress shall have power
to prohibit the labor of persons
under the age of eighteen years
and to prescribe the conditions of
such labor. The power of the
several States is unimpaired by
this article except that the opera
ton of State laws shall be suspend
ed to the extent necessary to give
effect to legislation enacted by
Congress"
The amendment thus authorizes
Congress to pass laws to abolish
child-labor. Congress could fix the
legal limit Of labor by children at
any age up to eighteen.
The second sentence of the article
of amendment is intended to per-
NIT States to keep in force any
anti-child-labor laws they have Of
better value than what Congress
might pass and to force all recall
citrant States to have standards at
least as good as the national Gov
d eminent decided to impose.
Illiteracy Is Result.
The Children's Bureau of the
United States Department of Labor
says its researches everywhere re-
veal that illiteracy stalks by the
side of child labor. Child. workers
are retarded in school. They leave
school at early grades. The death
rate is highest, it says, where the
immature child is forced to work.
Atlanta, Providence, Paterson,
Fall River, New Bedford, New Or
leans. Milwaukee, st. Louis, Read
Ing and Trenton are named as the
principal cities in which child-labor
le in vogue.
Among the organizations actively
at work for the passage of a con-
stitutional amendment to abolish
child-labor are the American Fede.
ration Of Labor. American Associa.
ton of University Women, American
Federation Of Teachers, American
Home Economics Association, Gen.
eral Federation of Women's Clubs.
Girls Friendly Society in America.
National Congress of Mothers and
Parent-Teacher Associations, Ma.
tional Consumers League, National
Council Of Jewish Women, National
Education Association, National
+, Federation Of Business and Pro.
. fessional Women's Clubs, National
/ League OF Women Voters, National
Women's Christian Temperance
Union, National Women's Trade
Union League and Ser11oa Ctou