Evening star., 1935-10-22
LABOR ASKS i. S.
TO REGULATE PAY
Amendment Held in Line
With Roosevelt Plan
for Constitution.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

To accomplish this, an amendment
to the Federal Constitution is first to
be sought. This is in line with Presi-
dent Roosevelt's desire to change the
Constitution to conform to the New
Deal philosophy of centralized and
socialized government.
Mr.. Roosevelt has been represented
as desiring the American Federation
of Labor to take the lead in his be-
half in waging fight for conStitu-
ional change. Though beset with diff
flculties, the resolution to get behind a
change in the Federal Constitution
was adopted by voice vote in he
closing hour of two-week convention
Of the A F.. of L. at Atlantic City, N. j.
1t is true only third of the men,
hers were present and that the issue
wasn't debated at all. being left to the
Executive Council to draft the amend
ment. But it is significant that, even
after the Executive Council had more
or less sidestepped the question by
saying it wanted to study the matter
further, the convention itself, as
result of a laSt-minute piece of sur
prise strategy by two strong Roosevelt
supporters, did direct the Executive
Council to get busy and frame pro-
posed amendment.
Table Plan Frustrated.
This action came after the conven-
ton had once agreed to table the sub
iect. but so powerful was the admins
tration influence that the matter was
not permitted to drop with any such
apparent indifference to Mr.. Roose-
yelt's wishes.
What kind of amendment will be
written? On the A. F. of LIS executive
council are the two men who pushed
the proposal for constitutional change
into action. namely, John L. Lewis and
David Dubinsky. They are favorably
inclined toward the resolution spon-
Sured by the International Ladies'
Garment Workers, so it is likely that
it. will be one of the first considered.
That resolution proposes as article
XXI of the Federal Constitution the
following:
Section 1.-The Congress shall have
power to establish uniform laws
throughout the United States to regu-
late limit and prohibit the labor of
persons under 18 years of age to limit
the work time and establish minimum
compensation of wage earners and en-
ployeS; to provide for the relief Of
aged, invalided, sick and unemployed
wage earners and employees, in the
form Of periodical grants, pensions,
benefits, compensation, or indemni-
ties from the public treasury, from
contributions of employers, wage
earners and employees, or from one or
more such sources, and generally for
the social and economic welfare of the
workers of the United States.
Section 2-The power of the sew
eral States to enact social welfare
legislation is unimpaired by this article.
but no such legislation shall abridge
or conflict with any act Of Congress
under this article"
Draft Is All-Inclusive.
It will be noted that the foregoing
Is drafted so as to catch the support
of the railroad workers, whose pension
legislation was recently declared in
valid by the Supreme Court, and also
to make sure that the Guffey bill, the
Wagner bill and the social security
legislation of the last Congress and
all future pension laws to pay money
to special groups out Of the Federal
Treasury shall be constitutional.
., The resolution, moreover, includes
the language of the child labor amend
ment. which has been going the
rounds OF the State Legislatures for
many years, but still remains unrati-
fed 1t is inferred that the language
is purposely repeated now because If
the new amendment, sponsored by
the A. F. of L., goes through Con-
gress for submission to States an
opportunity will be afforded to place
the proposal before constitutional con-
mentions instead of Legislatures, and
IN that way the matter can be passed
upon by popular ballot, as was the
repeal Of the eighteenth amendment.
1t is interesting in this connection
to observe that the A. F. of L. is
opposing interstate labor compacts,
which are possible within the frame
work of the present Federal Constitu-
tion. Just why any national labor
organization should wish to impede
the passage of any legislation bene-
fetal to its interests would be hard to
understand ordinarily. But the A. F.
of L. has group of leaders who are
determined to play ball with Presi-
dent Roosevelt at all hazards, and, If
he wishes the Federal Government to
control and regulate labor matters,
they want to give him wholehearted
support, especially as the subject may
be an issue in the 1886 campaign.
Mr.. Roosevelt, of course, will not al
ways be President and some future
Congresses may not be excessively
friendly to the bloc theory Of gov
ernment, in which case the proposed
grant of power to Congress to regulate
wages and hours may prove to be the
entering wedge toward Federal control
OF and supervision of labor unions.
All Sections Interested.
Certainly union labor has raised a
vital issue. The South will be inter-
ested in the way the regulation Of
wages by a northern-dominated Con-
gress will affect the race problem and
social conditions. The West will be
interested in the effect of agricultural
labor and on the cost of eastern-made
commodities which are to be ex-
changed at prices hitherto too low
to meet the eastern or industrial level
And the tariff-protected industries
will be interested to learn to what
extent a growing consumer resistance
to high industrial prices will compel
the inflow of foreign-made goods when
virtual subsidies to labor are as ex-
tensive as they would be under an
amendment to the Federal Constitu-
tion. 1t may be a coincidence, in
cidentally, that, at the A. F. Of L.
convention, President William Green,
in his opening address, said:
I'VE are near now, in my judgment,
to Government ownership and opera
ton of railroads."