Evening star., 1927-12-02
Scores Power Over Labor.
Passage Of Amendment Seen as
Robbing Communities Of
Self. Control.

70 the Editor OF The star:
On June 2, 1924, the Congress passed
a joint resolution proposing to the
Legislatures Of all the States of the
Union another amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States which,
if ratified by the Legislatures of three.
fourths of the several States. will be-
come a part of the Constitution. and
will likely be known as the 'child
labor amendment"
BY section l of this proposed amend.
ment, "The Congress shall have power
| to limit, regulate and prohibit the
labor of persons under Is years OF
age"
BY section 2, 1.-The power OF the
several States is unimpaired by this
article except that the operation of
State laws shall be suspended to the
extent necessary to give effect to
legislation enacted by the Congress.
II this proposed amendment, with
respect to child labor, is grated into
the Constitution, Congress would pos
sess unlimited power over labor OF all
children under the age OF 1S years.
| Every time the people forget the
fundamental idea that each commu.
nifty should solve it's own police prob
lens and first make every effort to
|
| National Government for help. they
are endangering the sacred right OF
| local self-government.
| Before adding other amendments to
the Constitution, it might be well first
| fo.' the American people to give seri
GUS thought and mature cOnSidera ton
| to the prophetic warning heretofore &C
often given by others and especially to
that particular one as contained in a
published account of an address pur'
ported to have been made by Mr.. JUS
/ tice Sutherland, a member of the Su
preme Court, while a United States
Senator from Utah, before the Amer
| lean Bar Association in 1912, as to
what the probable effect of the loss
of the binding force of the COnstitu
ton might mean, through the shat
tered faith OF the people-Mr. Justice
Sutherland being quoted as having
said in that address, viz:
ITO the thoughtful student Of Law
and government the great principles
| Of the Constitution, old as the stru2
| gle for human liberty. are as nearly
eternal as anything in this mutable
world can be. We do not outgroW
them any more than we outgrow the
| Ten Commandments or the enduring
| morality of the Sermon on the Mount
"The Constitution did not create
the Union, but, by making it more
perfect preserved it from destruc.
ton. Ii the present-day teachers OF
vague and visionary reform would
know the fate which will overtake
the Republic IL the Constitution,
| through the shattered faith of the
people. shall lose it's binding force,
they have but to read the history of
our country under the Articles of
| Confederation.
"If by some unhappy turn Of for.
| tune the Constitution should be
wrecked, those conditions will be re.
peated, but intensified in the proper
ton that our population has increased,
our territory extended and our prob
lens have become more numerous
and intricate.
1.-THE 4S States into which our i'm
perial domain has finally been round.
ed, filled with patriotic, intelligent,
justice-loving people, after all con-
stitute but the body of the Union.
Its soul is the Constitution"
WILLIAM MEYERHOFF.