Montana labor news., 1934-02-01
5000 UNION men AND WOMEN IN HUGE PARADE
CHILD LABOR AMENDMENT NEARS
VICTORY, FIGHT is BEING PUSHED

NEW YORK - (FP) - Although
looking back with satisfaction upon
their record during 1888 when Ia more
states ratified that constitutional
amendment to give Congress power
to abolish child labor, thus raising the
total ratifiers to 20, supporters of the
amendment see Child Labor Day, Jan.
%, 1884, as marking the beginning of
an even more strenuous struggle to
line up 16 more states to make the
amendment, once given up as lost, a
reality.
No other constitutional amendment
has gone through the struggle over
ratification which this one has. 1t
was proposed as the twentieth in 1924
but has since been shelved from its
position in the list by the anti-lame
duck amendment and the repeal Of
prohibition. And, surprisingly enough
since it was passed by Congress,
leaders of both major parties have
acclaimed it, every president has in
dorsed it, and scores of governors
have promised aid.
In 1916, Congress attempted to
abolish exploitation of children by
banning goods produced by child labor
from interstate commerce. Two years
later the U. S. Supreme Court, in one
of its famous 5-4 decisions, pro-
nounced it unconstitutional. Moth
ing loath, Congress in 1919 passed a
second law which placed a prohibitive
tax on products produced by child la
Dor. This too was pronounced uncon-
stitutional by the U. S. Supreme
Court. Congress then, without much
ado, passed by overwhelming major
tiles in 1924 an amendment giving it
power to abolish such labor.
This done, the sponsors of the
amendment were certain of speedy
ratification. But they wrongly reck-
oned the power Of the lobbyists for
manufacturers associations in state
legislatures. Dummy organizations,
Of which the New York Committee to
Protect Our Homes and Children is an
example, were surreptitiously set up,
to assail the amendment with the
bogeys of "B~olshevisml" and "des-
truction of the family" and Estates
rights" These powerful interests
succeeded in getting state after state
to reject it. When the number of
states on record as opposed was great
er than IT, the amendment was consid-
cred lost and opponents of child ex-
ploitation set themselves to the task
of getting the various states to pass
state laws. They found this method
unsatisfactory as they had prophe-
sied-the various state laws were con-
Trajectory and only succeeded in Civ
ing manufacturers of one state an
unfair advantage over those in other
states.
Then came the collaspe-and IT,
100000 ablebodied workers jobless.
The sight of family providers walk
ing the streets looking for work while
employers hired children at starva-
ton wages gave new life to- the a.
mendment. Colorado passed it in
1881. Then, in 1888, organized labor
in North Dakota pushed through ra-
tification Of the amendment. The
b%andwagon started and the parade
was on. Oregon, Washington, Him
OILS, Michigan, New Hamshire, New
Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Iowa, Mimi
esota, Maine, West Virginia, Pennsyl-
vania-all Joined the ratifying ranks.
"But the fight has just begun" an
official of the Natl. Child Labor Com
mittee told Federated Press. "We're
not fooling ourselves-we caught our
opponents unprepared in 1888 and
beat them to the gun. The real fight
will come with the ratification of the
last six s~tates-when the forces of
reaction will be lined up 'solidly a.
gainst us, ready to use every bit of
power they car to smash the amend
ment."
The fight has just begunl Massa-
chusetts, Mississippi, Rhode Island
and New York legislatures meet in
regular sessions in 1884; eight other
states meet in 1885. Leading the
fight for the amendment will be the
American Federation of Labor and the
Natl. Child Labor Committee. Again
st them will be aligned labor's tradi-
tional enemy, the Natl. Manufactur-
ers Assn, the Daughters of the Amer
ican Revolution, and the various
chambers of commerce.
The fight has just begunl~-16 more
states must be won if child labor is
to be abolished.