The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-03-12

the Connecticut
 General Assem-
 bly,. Instead of ~. r,t.potrscIx confining thern- -
 selves to an orderly, logical pres. entation of their side of the issue and discussing the question on US merits the ratiflcationists resorted to booing, missing, shouting down, and oratorically tar.and-feather" ing anyone and everyone who pre-. stunned to offer objection. The red herring of religious partisarship was dragged across the trail of the hunt to find an intelligent hu" mane solution of what Is admit" tedly c problem of general con" cern. And in full cry after the herring went the whole ratitica" ton pack headed by the windbags of organized labor. The spokesman for Bishop McAuliffe was greeted with howls of derision almost be- fore he had Q chance to open his mouth. I am a bit of Q partisan myself when 1t comes to social Justice questions but I hope have never been guilty of refusing to give the other fellow the same op- portunity for an uninterrupted hearing that demand for myself. That is the reason the Tuesday exhibition of bad manners, bad logic, and bad temper given by those who want the state to ratify the amendment disgusted me.
 The Same Everywhere
 It was a repetition of similar ex- hibitions given in every state legislature which has the question of ratification up for considera- ton. The same blind, unreasoning and vicious demonstration which has been shown everywhere to- wards those opposed to the amendment by those who favor It's adoption was unpleasantly dis- played in Hartford. The custom ary savage accusations of bad faith, dishonesty, and serving the cause of Mammon were hurled at the anti-ratiflers. It has never dawned upon the friends of the proposed addition to the COnsti- tuition that those who are fight ing it may be quite sincere and quite honest and quite justified in their objections. They refuse to entertain the thought that it is possible to be an unrelenting en- emy to the exploitation of chil- dren i'm industry and at the same time be an equally unrelentlng Jp- ponent of the so-called Child La- bor Amendment. Which in so many words is my personal posi- ton.
 The Amendment
 What is the amendment and what does 1t propose to dop It provides:
 Section I The Congress
 shall have power to limit, reg.
 ulate and prohibit the labor of
 persons under eighteen years of
 age.
 Section 9. The power of the
 several States Is unimpaired by
 this article except that the op-
 eratiOn of State laws shall be
 suspended to the extent neces-
 sary to give effect to legislation
 enacted by the Congress.
 No Definition
 The most cursory examination of the language of the first sec- ton furnishes some of the req sons why many real lovers of the human species are fighting its ratification. 1t delegates absolute ly to the Congress Q power re- served to the separate states with out the slightest curb on the ex- ercise of that power except the good faith, the good sense, and pure motive which members of the federal legislative bodies are presumed to possess. It makes no attempt to define exactly the word ''labor." It might include six-year- olds tending blast furnace in a steel mill or picking slate out of a coal breaker, or slaving fourteen hours a day gathering sugar beets out in Colorado. It might also in- clude seventeen-year old Minnie doing the supper dishes for mother when the latter has a sick head ache; or seventeen year-eleven months old Jimmy lugging up 8 hOd of coal from the cellar for the kitchen stove when father is laid up with lumbago; or Minnie and Jimmy being forced to fill a pail with huckleberries for the family pie when mother and father should do the pail filling because Minnie has to play basketball and Jimmie has . date to roll duck pins.
 Pooh! Pooh!
 The friends of the amendment pooh-pooh the idea that the Con- gress would do anything so silly as to construe "labor" like that. The opponents of the amendment point out that the only way to keep the Congress from doing silly tuzn8B ls uOs 70 ghVe lt sue pVWeE tO d0 them. Reliance on the good faith, the good sense, and the pure motives of the Congress they say Is a busted crutch to lean on. In support of that contention they further point to the enforcement of Che Eighteenth Amendment with its merry insertion of arsenic lnte intoxicating lsanoFs Co deter potential drinkers frsm violating the law, Co the shooting of slls- peetea irsnspeFteFs Of she fegbid- dsn stais 0n sight, and te the eut- rages against the imvIelabllaty of the heme committed by federal agents in illegal acts Of search and seizure.