Evening star., 1949-04-24
ChildLabor Act
Aim Fulfilled
State Changes Will
Reach Goal Missed
by Amendment
By Mox HoIl
By Mox HoIl

After Is years. the child labor
amendment proposal seems to be
dead, but its main purposes have
been accomplished.
The story of one Of the long
humanitarian crusades Of Amer
ican history, the drive to get chill
dren out of the mines and mills
and into the schools, hasn't ended.
A surprising amount of child
labor still exists. But it Is regu-
lated today. not only by State laws
some strong, some weak-but
also by o Federal law. And Con-
gress appears to be in the process
Of strengthening the Federal law.
Child labor Is no longer an
issue Of national excitement as 1t
was In the years when Sarah N.
Cleghorn was publishing bitter
poems like this:
"The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The labortng children can look out
And see the men at play"
Twenty-Five years ago-April
26. l924-the House approved the
child labor amendment. The Sem
ate followed on June 2. The
Constitution change needed ap-
proval Of 36 States. The child
labor amendment was ratified by
only %. Technically it is still
pending. but no State has ratified
1t since 1887.
The proposed amendment says:
"The Congress shall have power
to limit. regulate and prohibit the
labor Of persons under 1s years
of age"
IL States Limit Workers
The main reason for the pro-
posal was that the Supreme Court
had ruled that Congress didn't
have such power under the Con-
stitution. that only the States did.
But few States had effective
child labor laws. Even now only
IL States have 16-year minimum
age for factory work.
In 1916 Congress passed law
setting age limits Of 16 and IA for
certain industries In interstate
commerce. In 1918 the Supreme
Court slapped this law down. say
ing Congress had exceeded its au-
thority. In 1919 Congress offered
q different kind Of law to achieve
the same result. This, too, was
declared unconstitutional.
So the foes of child labor de-
cided that the only thing to do
was to change the Constitution.
The proposed amendment itself
was not q law. It, would only en-
able Congress to pass laws. 1t was
so worded as to extend not only to
interstate commerce but also to
within-the-State enterprises. If
Congress so desired.
Opposition came from employers
who traditionally hired young
workers. It also came from groups
which said the amendment would
give the Federal Government
control Of education" since the
word "labor" might be inter-
preted to include school work.
Many opponents argued on
States rights lines. Many said
work and responsibility are good
for children.
Changes Are Sought
Congress Is In the midst Of q
movement to amend the Fair La
Dor Standards Act. including the
, child labor portion. Ifa bill sup
ported by the Truman administra-
tion IL enacted. the following viii
be the result In the child labor
tleld:
The minimum ages Of le. 10 and
IL will remain. but they will cover
more occupations and should be
easier to enforce. The rule. in
stead Of being confined to pro-
ducing establishments. win apply
to all employers engaged In inter-
state commerce Except in the
cases Of certain children. such ~
child actors and newspaper carrier
boys).
No longer will 1t be necessary
10 prove that illegal child labor
was used within the past 80 days,
distributes ~ the Associated Press.D