Child hygiene / by S. Josephine Baker.

  • Sara Josephine Baker
Date:
[1925]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Child hygiene / by S. Josephine Baker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lishments to eight hours a day, six days a week, and to daylight hours between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. This law was held unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court by a vote of five to four on June 3, 1918, on the ground that the power of Congress to regulate inter¬ state commerce does not include the power to prohibit the movement of ordinary commercial commodities for the pur¬ pose of regulating child labor which comes under state authority. The second federal child labor law (the Child Labor Tax Act) was passed by Congress on February 24, 1919, and became effective May 25, 1919. The act imposed a tax upon the net profits of mines, quarries, or manufacturing establishments violating the standards outlined above. This law was held unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court by a vote of eight to one on May 15, 1922, on the ground that it was not a proper use of the power of Con¬ gress, but an attempt to impose, through taxation, certain standards as to employment of labor, the regulation of which belongs to the state. The fact that neither of these laws has come within constitutional limits led to a movement for a constitutional amendment giving the Congress the power to regulate child labor. Such an amendment was passed by the Senate on June 2d., 1924. The resolution as passed is as follows: Section 1. The Congress shall have the power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons under eighteen years of age. Section 2. The power of the several states is unimpaired by this article except that the operation of state laws shall be suspended to the extent necessary to give effect to legislation enacted by the Con¬ gress. This amendment, having been previously passed by the House of Representatives, has now been submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. Ihe significant feature of this proposed amendment to
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