Evening star., 1933-01-27
States Should Ratify the
Child.LabOr Amendment
Totbe rdi+or ,,rh. st.r.

To the Editor OF The Star:
The child-labor amendment to the
Constitution will be nine years old in
June, 1888: that Is. 1t will be nine years
since it was first submitted to the
States. Only six States have accepted
the amendment, while II have rejected
1t outright. To this can be added four
muster two-thirds of the total vote for
ratification. One State Legislature
1owa) postponed consideration Of the
amendment indefinitely, and 16 other
States have taken no action whatso-
ever. OF the remaining four States one
house blocked approval in three Of
these (States) and in the fourth (State)
joint resolution was passed diSap-
proving the act
The amendment provides that Con-
gress shall have power to limit, regu-
late and prohibit the labor Of persons
under 18 years of age. Possibly,
II the age limit were lowered, the act
would meet with more favor in the
States. The States rights" sentiment
Is still strong factor against passage.
The Legislatures are jealous Of any ex-
tension Of powers of Congress; also
some of these able bodies with feeble
minds) are influenced by the enemies
Of the poor and the exploiters Of child
labor
In 1920 there were 37s,oe3 children
between the ages Of 10 and 13 years
number was 235, 1928. OF children IA
years old there were 1854 in 1920 and
157,650 in 1880. OF the 15-year-olds
there were 425.201 in 1920 and 274,130
in 1890. OF those Is years Of age In
1920 they numbered 778.957 and In 1880
587,817. The totals show a favorable
reduction when compared with earlier
years (these are World Almanac fig
ures), for in 1910 the children gain
fully occupied" between the ages of 10
to Is was listed as 1,990,225 (practi-
cally 2,OO0,000), as against 1,060,858 in
1920 and 667,118 in 1880. However. the
latter figure looms large in an age when
an able-bodied man finds difficulty In
obtaining work.
Going back to the State Legislatures,
Of the five most populous States only
one has ratified the amendment (Can-
formal. One has condemned it in
joint resolution CPennsylvania), and
the other three have not acted on 1t at
all. Between the ages of 10 and II
here Is the lineup: New York, $3.50
males, 80,479 females: Pennsylvania,
87,152 males, SO, 1879 females: Illinois,
56 ,698 males, 3e,os2 females; Ohio, 49,
020 males, 20,077 females; California,
% $50 males, 8.645 females. Thus it IS
seen that California, the State with the
smallest number Of children employed
(of the five) was the only one to ratify
the amendment.
It may be possible TO induce some Of
the recalcitrant' Legislatures to ratify
by changing the age limit to l6 years
instead Of IL, but there Il absolutely no
excuse for Q State Legislature prolonging
action indefinitely on an amendment
which has been passed by Congress.
These Legislatures can act quickly
enough on an amendment they favor,
as witness the rapid ratification of the
so-called lame duck" amendment.
What Is needed Is an act making 1t
mandatory upon the State Legislatures
to take action within certain specified
time upon An amendment Of this sort
This States rights" jargon is obso-
lete It Is about time methods were
employed to speed action on legisla-
tion, whether desirable" legislation or
not. Either pass . bill o. defeat 4,
but by AL means decide y without con-
tinued procrastinAtion. The fate Of tha