Evening star., 1937-04-02
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G, GOULD LINCOLN.


Colorado, has the unique distinction Of
having fathered two laws both of which
were later declared unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court. One of these laws
was last Monday revived, when the Su-
preme Court reversed the decision of
that court made thirteen years ago, and
in effect made the minimum wage act
for women and children in the District
of Columbia constitutional. The second
act of Congress which he sponsored as
a member OF the House, invalidated by
the court, was the national child labor
act. In both instances, the laws were
held unconstitutional by 5-to-4 deci-
seem reason for speculation today
the child labor act before it again in
some shape or form, might reverse tho
earlier decision on that measure, too.
X
Mr.. Keating, who has labored for
years both in Congress and out for legis-
laton to improve the conditions OF the
people, socially and economically, was
Democratic Representative from Colo
RADIO In the National House for six years,
from March 4, 1918, to March 3, 1919.
He went down to defeat in the 1918
campaign when the Wilson admins
tration made the mistake of calling upon
the country to elect Democratic House
to uphold the hands of the Democratic
President, Woodrow Wilson, while the
World War was still on and the Repub-
licans and Independents thought they
were doing their bit in that conflict.
1t was during his service in the House
that he introduced the national child
labor bill and the minimum wage bill
for women and children in the District
of Columbia, both of which were enacted
into law. He had a tough time In
getting the minimum wage bill to the
floor for consideration. 1t had been re-
ferred to the House Committee on the
District of Columbia, which handles all
legislative measures relating to the Ma
tional Capital. Ben johnson of Ken
lucky, then member of the House,
was chairman of the committee. He did
not believe in the minimum wage bill,
and it looked as though the measure
was to be pigeonholed in committee
indefinitely. It happened, however, that
Benjamin c. Hilliard of Colorado was in
those days member of the House Dis
trict Committee, a friend of both Chair
man johnson and Keating. Hilliard,
who later became a justice of the Su-
preme Court of Colorado, was great
raconteur, and he and johnson used
to swap stories in the Democratic cloak
room. It was Hilliard who persuaded
johnson finally to appoint subcom-
mittee with Hilliard as chairman, to
hold hearings on the minimum wage
bill. The subcommittee and the full
committee later both passed favorably
on the bill and it was put through the
House.
The suggestion is now made in some
quarters that if Congress would pass a
joint resolution asking the Supreme
Court to review the decision in the ma
tional child labor act, it might be pos
sible to get reversal of the opinion
handed down years ago on that measure.
The court was closely divided over the
act, when it was held unconstitutional.
The case involving the law had been
argued by an array of brilliant legal
talent. In the House, when the act was
under consideration, it is now recalled,
former Representative SWagar Sherley
of Kentucky announced that he had
begun a study of the child labor bill
convinced that the measure was uncon-
stitutional, but had changed his mind
in regard to it and become con-
vinced that 1t was, after all, constitu-
tional.
Before he entered politics, Mr. Keat-
Ing was newspaper man, coming up
from the ranks to be editor of the
Rocky Mountain News and later pub
Usher of the Pueblo Leader He always
was interested in the aspirations of
labor and strong supporter of legisla-
ton for the improvement of the condi-
tions of labor When the Democrats
came back into control of the Govern
ment in 1888, after having been out of
public Office for fourteen years, Mr..
Keating'S name was put forward in some
quarters for Secretary of Labor in the
Roosevelt cabinet. AS the author of the
minimum wage law for the District Of
Columbia, 1t is quite natural he should
be pleased over the recent decisions Of
the Supreme Court.
The suit in the courts here to test the
constitutionality of the minimum wage
act was brought originally in the name
of colored girl who worked in old Con-
those days. He insisted, however, that
the employers were back of the suit,
being antagonistic to the law.
X
Almost two months after being sent to
Congress, the Presidents bill to reor-
ganize the judiciary and to empower
him to appoint a maximum of six new
justices of the Supreme Court is still in
the hearing stage before the Senate
Judiciary Committee. There is no end
of the hearings yet in sight, and the
day when it shall reach the floor of the
Senate for consideration is still, appar-
emily, far in the future. The measure
has taken the center of the stage and
held it to the exclusion of almost all
other issues before Congress. Instead of
growing less, the controversy over the
measure has waxed more and more Bit
ter, until charges are flying that the
administration is seeking to put the bill
across by the use of patronage and the
use of relief money.
Senator Holt of West Virginia has led
the attack on the administration on
the ground that it is seeking to use
patronage, the handing out of Federal
Jobs, to influence Senators to support
the measure. It was Senator Burke Of
Nebraska who yesterday threw out the
suggestion that the billion-a -and-a- half
dollar relief appropriation which the
President is expected soon to ask OF
Congress would be used to influence the
result, These are serious charges,
hro,Ioht nv Democratic members of the