The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-01-22

01NtA AACs
be INDUCED in idleness and dissipa
ton. Cartoons representing adde's
cent youths restrained by law from
healthful labor, watching their more
or less aged fathers engaged in toll
some farm work, were generously
scattered about in Massachusetts, dur
ing the late campaign in that State
as indicative of what might be ex
pected under what was characterized
as a revolutionary grant of govern.
mental authority. That campaign was
not conducted by -ignoramuses. The
authors of that variety of appeal and
more quite like it, which expresses
concern about legislation forbidding
the sons of farmers from doing or
binary chores or the daughters of
their households from the perform
ance of domestic duties, know per-
fectly well that whatever power will
be conferred by the amendment in
question has been enjoyed by the
government of the States ever since
they came into existence without any
such results as it was ventured would
follow from the grant of the same
power to Congress.
1t is entirely unnecessary to vindi-
cate the right of the State govern
ments on constitutional grounds to
enact child labor laws. 1t has, per-
haps. never been denied, but as
saults made in the courts on par
ticular child labor laws, because of
some feature claimed to transcend
the limit of governmental authority,
have brought out repeated judicial
opinions UNFOLDING enactments of
that character and asserting Is I'M
questionable the authority of the
State as parens patria to prohibit,
regulate, and control the employment
and labor of children.
Now, the States having always en-
ioyed the authority to enact child
labor laws, never having passed any
law so foolish as some suggested as
likely, or at least possible under the
amendment and utterly absurd, what
is the reason for supposing that the
Congress of the United States will
exhibit less ordinary common sense?
If no State legislation ever passed
a law restraining the ~17-year-old son
of a Woodworking farmer from re-
his father at the pillow, how
can anyone conceive that the Con-
gress, consisting of representatives
from all the States, will so offend
reason as to forbid the parent
to avail himself of the help of such
a son? But if it should so act without
reason or sense, it's action would be
nullified blythe courts just as would
action by a State legislature.
The fifth amendment would not be
abrogated by the twentieth. By it the
Congress is restrained from passing
any law which shall deprive any per-
of life, liberty, or property just
as the States are restrained from such
action by the fourteenth amendment.
If a State child labor law should be
held unconstitutional because it is
an unreasonable exercise of the pow
II Of the State to enact laws of that
character and therefore %violative of (
he fourteenth amendment, a similarI |
enacted by Congress under color Y
If the authority granted by the t
twentieth amendment must Of n%ecess- /
ty fall likewise. In other words, |
neither parents nor children will bel F
n any more peril from inconsiderate
n oppressive legislation by the L
tdoption of the twentieth amendment \
han they now are. y . S
The Age Limit Il
The age limit fixed in the amend a
nent has been the target of much OF I
he heavy gunfire of the opponents Ii
# ratification, not infrequently dis q
harged upon the assumption that the il
.mendment prohibits any labor OF v
under 10. A just cause would t
purn such palpable misrepresenta- p
ion. Repetition would seem to be I'M n
and yet so persistent IS the t.
Justification that it must be avowed I
gain and again that the amendment a
,rohibits nothing; it simply gives to t.
congress the power to limit, regulate, tt
prohibit the labor of persons IN Il
.er 18. Until Congress acts, nothing p
o far as the Federal authority is d
oncerned, is limited, nothing is reg e
lated, nothing is prohibited. When il
congress does act, it may limit, regu- p
ate, or prohibit the labor only OF
hildren under 10 years of age, or y,
r ID, or Is, or any age under 18. 1t N
nay prohibit the employment of per II
ons under 10 in mines, or in the II
.peration of railroads or in other Il
azardous occupations, or under 10, Ia
r ~, or IA in cotton mills or other Ct
Ike manufacturing establishments or m
1 crowded sweatshops. The amend b!
lent simply fixes the limit, beyond OF
hitch Congress can not go. Within al
nat limit the people are required to
,ust to the good sense and discretion tl
f Congress, whose Members will be OF
lfluenced by the same fallible Judg- tn
owl x1,biob +bau bripr to hear rD0Q pl