Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-01
NEW DEAL POWER
IN CONSTITUTION
souare Handling Of Labor
Matters Declared Possible
Without Amendment.
nv DAVID LAWRENCE.


nv DAVID LAWRENCE.
Gould labor get square deal with
AFT constitutional amendment
cou,d the advantages which the
R. A. was presumed to give to labor
have been obtained under legislation
within the Constitution?
These queries are pertinent to any
appraisal of what the New Deal might
have done and what 1t might yet do if
it is DESTROYS of improving the lot OF
the workingman by legislation that
will accomplish the objectiyes promptly
and without endless litigation.
The three main features OF the
N. r. A. with respect to labor were
collective bargaining, the prohibition
of child labor and the establishment
of minimum wage.
Possible Under Constitution.
All three are possible within the
spirit and framework of the Constitu-
tion," as President Roosevelt once
characterized the purposes OF his ad-
ministration.
Collective bargaining Is an ancient
privilege-the right of worker to be
represented by an agent or representa-
tive of his own choosing, just as an
employer has similar right to engage
an attorney to represent him in ne
gotiations with unions or individual
workmen.
State laws protect this right. The
common law protects it. Declaration
of the principle in State or Federal
statute does not add or subtract from
the basic right. When put into
Federal law, however, it implies that
the Federal Government has right
to supervise employer -employe rela-
tons, when in truth this is a matter
for the police power of the several
States.
AS for child labor, many States have
laws prohibiting it, and, with the
impetus given the movement under
the N. r. A., the number OF states
passing child labor laws will increase.
The process may be slow, but, in the
end, it is better for the States to re-
tain this power, since they can adjust
their statutes to local conditions ana
varying classes Of employment.
Interstate Compacts.
To attain uniformity, so that States
adjacent to each other may mot pro-
duce conditions that cause plants or
factories to withdraw from one State
to a neighboring State, the Constitu-
ton provides for interstate compacts,
which, when agreed to by the Legisla-
lures of neighboring States, are to be
ratified by Congress.
Already many States are negotiating
such compactS. Eleven interstate
agreements have been drafted recently
and there are frequent conferences,
guided by the Department Of Labor
here, looking toward that end. A
change in the Constitution is not
necessary to obtain satisfactory labor
standards.
Now as to maximum hours and
even minimum wages, these are mat
tiers closely related to the health and
subsistence of the individual. The
Federal Government does not have
power over them, but the States do.
It is true that a decision Of the Su-
preme Court of the United States in
April, 1923, holding unconstitutional
q certain minimum wage law of the
District of Columbia, has been re-
sponsible for a rather general impress
sion that all minimum wage legisla-
ton of the States would be held in
valid. But the fact is there were de-
fects in the District of Columbia law
and these could be corrected in the
writing of a new law. Thus said
Justice Sutherland in expressing the
majority opinion of the court:
"A statute requiring an employer to
pay in money, to pay at prescribed and
regular intervals, to pay the value of
the services rendered, even to pay
with fair relation to the extent Of the
benefit obtained from the service,
would be understandable. But a
statute which preScribes payment
without regard to any Of these things
and solely with relation to circum-
stances apart from the contract OF
employment, the business affected by
1t and the work done under II, Is so
clearly the product Of a naked arbi-
trary exercise of power that it cannot
be allowed to stand under the Con-
stitution of the United States"
Course Left Open.
The court opposed the arbitrariness
of the law, but this is not to say that
the hint given above that an under
standable" or constitutional statute
could be written should be overlooked.
Often the court will strike down
statute which has been effectively
written or which is drafted in such
way as to introduce extraneous fea-
lures of an unconstitutional sort that
happen to have no relationship to the
main objective. That a minimum
wage law can be written by the several
States which will stand the test of
conStitutionality Is beyond doubt,
especially since the two dissenting
justices favored the principle, and the
only question at issue with the ma
jority was the arbitrariness of certain
aspects of the law.
So 1t Is with regard to maximum
nours. The use Of this power TO spread
the work by forbidding employment in
excess of a reasonable number of
hours might run into constitutional
difficulties, but prohibiting work be-
yond eight hours a day or forty-eight
hours a week would certainly not be
regarded as unreasonable, because
there would be ample testimony that
such weeks work is not injurious to
health.
The details Of a proper labor stand
ard are, of course, open to debate,
and there Is no attempt in the fore
going to insist on any particular
formula, but merely to point out that
there is abundant power for a new
deal within the Constitution on labor
matters, just as In previous articles
In this series attention has been drawn
to the constitutional powers whereby
codes of fair competition and higher
return to the farmer for his product
might have been attained and may