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1842: In Massachusetts an act was passed
in 1842 forbidding the employment of children under 12 in manufacturing
establishments for more than 10 hours a day.
.
(See: page 239, "The Beginnings of Child Labor Legislation in Certain States,” by Elizabeth L. Otey, in U.S. Senate Document No. 645, Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners in the United States, 19 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1910-13), IV.)
1901: The Alabama Child Labor Committee
formed.
(See: page 54, Crusade for the children; a history of the National Child Labor Committee and child labor reform in America, by Walter I. Trattner. Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1970.)
November 1902: The New York Child Labor
Committee formed.
(See: page 56, Crusade for the children; a history of the National Child Labor Committee and child labor reform in America, by Walter I. Trattner. Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1970.)
April 15, 1904: Following discussions between
the Alabama Child Labor Committee and the New York Child Labor Committee, the
National Child Labor Committee convened its first general meeting in New
York’s Carnegie Hall.
(See: page 58, Crusade for the children; a history of the National Child Labor Committee and child labor reform in America, by Walter I. Trattner. Chicago, Quadrangle Books, 1970.)
1904: One of the first steps taken by the
new child labor movement was to formulate some definite standards for
legislation. A model bill was issued in 1904 based on the best feature of the
Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois laws. In 1911 this bill, in slightly
revised form, was published as a proposed "Uniform Child Labor Law" and was
recommended to the states by the National Conference on Uniform State Laws. It
called for a minimum age of 14 years for employment in manufacturing, and 16
years for employment in mining; a maximum work day of eight hours; prohibition
of night work from seven P. M. to six A. M.; and documentary proof of age. In
1904 there was no state with a law measuring up to all five of these
standards.
(See pages 408-409, History of labour inthe United States, by John R. Commons. New York, MacMillian Company. 1935.Volume 3.
NOTE: The draft of a uniform child labor law for the various states, prepared by the National Child Labor Committee, was endorsed by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws at their twenty-first annual meeting in Boston, August 26th (1911). This bill, which thus has the approval of leading lawyers from all parts of the country, and which comprises the best provisions of existing child labor laws, will be of especial help to those who seek to avoid the errors of unwise legislation and to incorporate in the laws of their own state measures that have proved effective.
(See pages 6-7 of Better child labor laws in 1911, Owen R. Lovejoy. New York: National Child Labor Committee. 1911.
March 31, 1905: During a meeting at the White
House Lillian D. Wald (Henry Street Settlement in New York City), Edward T.
Devine (General Secretary of the New York Charity Organization Society), Jane
Addams (Cofounder of Hull House in Chicago), and Mary McDowell (founder of the
University of Chicago Settlement in 1894) presented their proposal for a
federal Children's Bureau to President Theodore Roosevelt, who gave them his
private endorsement.
(See: page 15, A right to childhood : the U.S. Children's Bureau and child welfare, 1912-46 / Kriste Lindenmeyer. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1997.)
January 10, 1906: Senator Murray Crane of
Massachusetts introduced a bill (S. 2962) "...to establish in the Department of
the Interior a bureau to be known as the Children's Bureau;". On May 9, 1906,
Representative John J. Gardner (R-NJ) introduced an identical bill (H. R.
19115) in the House of Representatives.
(See: page 17, A right to childhood : the U.S. Children's Bureau and child welfare, 1912-46 / Kriste Lindenmeyer. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1997.)
May 9, 1906: Congressman John James Gardner
(R-NJ) introduced H. R. 19115, to establish a bureau to be known as the
Children's Bureau in the Department of the Interior. The bill was referred to
the Committee on Labor.
By Mr. GARDNER of New Jersey : A bill (H. R.
19115) to establish in the Department of the Interior a burearu to be known as
the Children's Bureau—to the Committee on Labor.
(See: page 6601 of the Congressional Record, of the Fifty-Ninth Congress, First Session, Volume 40, Part 7, available at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/crecb/_crecb/Volume%20040%20(1906))
December 5, 1906: Senator Albert J. Beveridge
(R-IN) introduced S-6562 (4
pages), in the Senate, "A Bill to Prevent the Employment of Children in
Factories and Mines." It was the first bill aimed at using federal law to
address oppressive child labor by banning the sale of products from any
factory, shop, or cannery that employed children under the age of 14, from any
mine that employed children under the age of 16, and from any facility that had
children under the age of 16 work at night or for more than 8 hours during the
day. On December 6, 1906, Representative Herbert Parsons (R-NY) introduced the
bill in the House of Representatives as H.R. 21404. (View full text
searchable copy of S. 6562)
(See: page 50 of the Congressional Record, of the Fifty-Ninth Congress, First Session, Volume 48, Part 2, available at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/crecb/_crecb/Volume%20048%20(1912))
December 6, 1906: Representative Herbert
Parsons (R-NY) introduced H. R.
21404 (4 pages) in the House of Representatives, a bill to prevent
the employment of children in factories and mines. The bill was referred to the
Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and ordered to be printed. On
December 5, 1906, Senator Albert J. Beveridge (R-IN) had introduced the bill in
the Senate as S-6562
(4pages).
February 8, 1907: The National Child Labor
Committee was incorporated through a special act of Congress (S. 6364).
(See: page 75, The crusade for children : the Children's Aid Society's early years to present, New York : Children's Aid Society, 2008.)
February 3, 1908: Senator Jacob H. Gallinger
(R-NH) introduced S. 4812 (8
pages), a bill to regulate the employment of child labor in the District of
Columbia, which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Education and
Labor. (See Public Law 149, May 28, 1908)
May 28 1908: Public Law 149 - "An Act to regulate
the employment of child labor in the District of Columbia." (See S. 4812,
February 3, 1908)
January 25 and 26, 1909: President Theodore
Roosevelt hosted a White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children.
(See: page 19, A right to childhood : the U.S. Children's Bureau and child welfare, 1912-46 / Kriste Lindenmeyer. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1997..)
January 1, 1910: The Special Committee on a
Uniform Child Labor Law submitted their Report to the Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. (25 pages)
December 15, 1910: Senator Jacob H. Gallinger
(R-NH) introduced S. 9534 to
amend "An Act to regulate the employment of child labor in the District of
Columbia” by adding "Any person violating any of the provisions of
sections eleven, twelve, fourteen, or fifteen of this Act may be punished by a
fine not exceeding five dollars, and in addition thereto any permit issued
under the provisions of any of said sections may be revoked," which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. (2 pages)
January 23, 1911: S. 9534, Report 1001. A
bill to amend the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the employment of child
labor in the District of Columbia.'' by adding "Any person violating any of the
provisions of sections eleven, twelve, fourteen, or fifteen of this Act may be
punished by a fine not exceeding five dollars, and in addition thereto any
permit issued under the provisions of any of said sections may be revoked." (2
pages)
(See: Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (U.S.). Special Committee on a Uniform Child Labor Law. Boston : Wright & Potter, 1910.)
January 23, 1911: Report No. 1001, submitted by Elmer
Burkett (R-NE) from the Committee on the District of Columbia, recommended that
S. 9534, a bill to amend the act
entitled "An act to regulate the employment of child labor in the District of
Columbia," be passed after specified amendments. (2 pages)
August 25 and 26, 1911: During their 1911
Annual Conference the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted a Uniform Child Labor Law
developed by the National Child Labor Committeee and the American Bar
Assocition Special Committee on a Uniform Child Labor Law.
1911: The American Bar Association adopted a
recommended Child Labor Law.
January 13, 1912: A bill to establish a
federal Children's Bureau passed the Senate by a vote of 54-19. It was signed
by President William Howard Taft on April 9, 1912.
(See: page 98, A right to childhood : the U.S. Children's Bureau and child welfare, 1912-46 / Kriste Lindenmeyer. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1997..)
1912: A bill limiting the hours of work for
women and children in New York factories to 54 hours a week was passed through
the efforts of Frances Perkins, at that time a lobbyist for the National
Consumer's League.
(See: pages 80-84 and 91-100, in Madam Secretary, Frances Perkins, by George Martin. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1976.)
April 9, 1912: President William Howard Taft
signed the bill creating a federal Children's Bureau.
(See: page 26, A right to childhood : the U.S. Children's Bureau and child welfare, 1912-46 / Kriste Lindenmeyer. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1997..)
1912: Four measures addressing child labor
were introduced during a Special Session of Congress, called by President
Woodrow Wilson to consider the Federal Reserve Act and tariff reduction.
(See: page 26, Constitutional politics in the progressive era; child labor and the law, by Stephen B. Wood. Chicago, University of Chicago Press [1968]. See also page 122, The crusade for children : the Children's Aid Society's early years to present, New York : Children's Aid Society, 2008.)
January 6, 1914: The National Child Labor
Committee announced support for the passage of a federal law regulating child
labor.
January 26, 1914 : Representative A. Mitchell
Palmer (D-PA) introduced the Palmer-Owen child labor bill H. R 12292, an Act to prevent
interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes.
which was referred to the Committee on Labor and ordered to be printed. (4
pages)
February 21, 1914: Senator Robert Latham Owen
Jr. (D-OK) introduced S. 4571 in
the Senate to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce. On January
26, 1914, Representative A. Mitchell Palmer (D-PA) had introduced the bill as
H. R 12292 in the House of
Representatives. (4 pages)
February 27 and March 9, 1914: Hearings before
the House of Representatives Committee on Labor for the Palmer-Owen child labor
bill H. R. 12292
(83 pages, to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child
labor, and for other purposes.
May 22, 1914: Hearings before the Committee on
Labor, United States Senate, Sixty-Fourth Congress, First Session, on
Palmer-Owen child labor bill H. R. 12292, an Act to
prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other
purposes. (65 pages)
August 13, 1914: The Palmer-Owen child labor
bill H. R 12292
[Report No. 1085] House Calendar No. 188 (8 pages), was reported with an amendment by
Representative A. Mitchell Palmer (D-PA). Referred to the House Calendar, and
ordered to be printed.
August 13, 1914: Representative David J. Lewis
(D-MD), from the Committee on Labor, submitted the Palmer-Owen child labor bill
H. R. 12292
Report No. 1085, House Calendar 188, with an amendment, which was referred to
the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. (8 pages)
December 24, 1914: Representative A. Mitchell
Palmer (D-PA) and Senator Robert L. Owen (D-OK) introduced the Palmer-Owen
child labor bill (S. 4571 and H.R. 12292).
(See: page 2356 of the Congressional Record, Second Session of the Fifty-Ninth Congress, Second Session, Volume 51, Part 3, available at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/crecb/_crecb/Volume%20048%20(1912))
February 13, 1915: The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (H.R. 12292) to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes, was stricken from the House Calendar, rereported, rereferred to the House Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
February 13, 1915: H. R. 12292, The
Palmer-Owen Child Labor Bill, Report No. 1400,
House Calendar 254 (8 pages), to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child
labor, and for other purposes. By Representative A. Mitchell Palmer (D-PA),
stricken from the House Calendar, rereported, rereferred to the House Calendar,
and ordered to be printed.
February 13, 1915: Report No. 1400 (50 pages), to
accompany H. R. 12292, the Palmer-Owen Child Labor Bill. Submitted by
Representative David J. Lewis (D-MD), from the Committee on Labor, referred to
the House Calendar, and ordered to be printed.
February 15, 1915 (calendar day February 16,
1915): H. R. 12292 (6 pages, an
Act to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for
other purposes. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Interstate
Commerce. (6 pages)
February 15, 1915: The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (H.R. 12292 12 pages) to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes, was read twice and referred to the committee on Interstate Commerce.
February 15, 1915: The House of
Representatives approved the Palmer-Owen child labor bill by a vote of 233 to
43.
February 19, 1915 (calendar day March 1, 1915)
: H. R. 12292
[Report No, 1050] (4 pages), Reported by Joseph T. Robinson (D-AR) with,
amendments.
January 7, 1916: Senator Robert L. Owen Jr.
introduced H. R. 8234 (6 pages), which was referred to the Committee on Labor and ordered to be printed. It was based on a 1906 proposal by Senator Albert J. Beveridge and used the government's ability to regulate interstate commerce to regulate child labor. It banned the sale of products from any factory, shop, or cannery that employed children under the age of 14, from any mine that employed children under the age of 16, and from any facility that had children under the age of 16 work at night or for more than eight hours during the day.
(See national Archives "Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (1916)" at https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/keating-owen-child-labor-act)
January 7, 1916: In the House of
Representatives, Congressman Edward Keating introduced H. R. 8234 (6 pages), the
Keating–Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, a bill to prevent interstate
commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes, which was
referred to the Committee on Labor and ordered to be printed.
January 10, 11, and 12, 1916: Hearings Before
the Committee on Labor, House of Representatives, Sixty-Fourth Congress, First
Session, on H. R. 8234
(317 pages), the Keating–Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, a bill to
prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other
purposes.
January 13,1916: Statement of Professor Thomas
I. Parkinson (27 pages), Director of the Legislative Drafting
Research Department of Columbia University, New York City, on the
constitutionality of H. R. 8234, the Keating–Owen Child Labor Act of
1916. Delivered Before the House Committee on Labor.
January 17, 1916: H. R. 8234 [Report No. 46]
(6 pages), the Keating–Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, a bill
to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other
purposes, which was referred to the Committee on Labor and ordered to be
printed.
February 2, 1916: (H. R. 8234) the Keating–Owen Child Labor Act
of 1916, a bill to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor
was approved by the House of Representatives by a vote of 337 to 46.
February 7, 1916: In the Senate H. R. 8234, a bill to prevent
interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce.
February 15, 1916: Hearings before the Committee
on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Sixty-Fourth Congress, First
Session, on H. R. 8234, an Act to prevent interstate commerce in the products
of child labor, and for other purposes.
February 18, 1916: An amendment by Senator
Benjamin R. Tillman (D-SC) to H. R.
8234, a bill to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor,
and for other purposes was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Interstate Commerce.
February 21, 1916: Hearing before the
Committee on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, at which James A.
Emery, ESQ, delivered an
argument on behalf of the National Association of Manufacturers (41
pages) in opposition to the form and validity of H. R. 8234, commonly known
as the Keating-Owen Child Labor Bill, a bill to prevent interstate commerce in
the products of child labor, and for other purposes.
March 17, 1916: Hearing before the Committee
on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, on H. R. 8234 (31 pages), on
the Keating-Owen Child Labor Bill, an act to prevent interstate commerce in the
products of child labor, and for other purposes.
April 19, 1916: The Keating-Owen Child Labor
bill, H. R. 8234 (10
pages), an act to prevent interstate commerce in the products of child
labor, and for other purposes. Reported by Senator Joe T. Robinson (D-AR) with
an amendment.
July 25, 1916 (calendar day July 26, 1916): H. R. 8234, Amendment intended to
be proposed by Senator William Borah (R-ID) to H. R. 8234, the
Keating–Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, a bill to prevent interstate
commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes.
August 1, 1916 (calendar day August 4, 1916):
An amendment intended to be
proposed by Senator Charles S. Thomas to H. R. 8234, the Keating–Owen
Child Labor Act of 1916, a bill to prevent interstate commerce in the products
of child labor, and for other purposes. which was referred to the Committee on
Labor and ordered to be printed.
August 9, 1916: H. R. 8234, the Keating–Owen
Child Labor Act of 1916, a bill to prevent interstate commerce in the products
of child labor, and for other purposes, was approved the Senate with an
amendment.
September 1,1916: Public Law 249 (HR 8234 -
the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act) - CHAP. 432.-An Act To prevent interstate
commerce in the products of child labor, and for other purposes.
March 1, 1918: Representative Edward Keating (D-CO) introduced H. R. 10367, a bill to protect the lives and health and morals of women and minor workers in the District of Columbia, and to establish a Minimum Wage Board, and define its powers and duties, and to provide for the fixing of minimum wages for such workers, and to provide penalties for violation of this Act. The bill was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia and ordered to be print.
June 3, 1918: Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S.
251. The Supreme Court declared the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (H. R. 8234)
unconstitutional. This decision was overruled by the United States Supreme
Court on February 3, 1941 in United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (312 US
100)
September 19, 1918: Congress approved the
District of Columbia minimum-wage law
(40 Stat. 960) (5 pages) guaranteeing a minimum wage to women
and children employed in the District of Columbia. The bill included the
definition that "The term "minor" means a person of either sex under the age of
eighteen years;"
December 1918: Congress approved the Child
Labor Tax Law in H.R. 12863, as part of the Revenue Act of 1919, imposing a
federal excise tax of 10% on annual net profits of those employers who used
child labor in certain businesses.
February 6, 1919: H. R. 12863 (364 pages), The
Revenue Act of 1919, to provide revenue, and for other purposes –
"Committee Print – As Agreed to in Conference." The Child Labor Tax Law,
which imposed an excise tax on the net profits of business using prohibited
child labor, was in Section XII of the bill. (See pages 315 to 320)
February 24, 1919: Public Law 254 (96 pages)
imposing an excise tax on the net profits of business using prohibited child
labor. For the Tax on Employment of Child Labor provisions see Title
XII, Section 1200, pages 1138 to 1140.
May 15, 1922: Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259
U.S. 20. The Supreme Court ruled the 1919 Child Labor Tax Law
unconstitutional as an improper attempt by Congress to penalize employers using
child labor.
(See: volume I, pages 520-525, The child and the state ... select documents, with introductory notes by Grace Abbott ... Chicago, Ill., The University of Chicago press [1938])
"When the Supreme Court handed down its decision against the constitutionality of the child-labor law of 1916, the United States was at the height of war production. The task of enforcing the new provisions for the protection of working children had been performed with success under trying conditions, and it was felt that a misfortune to the children would be caused if the decision of the Supreme Court destroyed all Federal protection. Accordingly the War Labor Policies Board gave instructions that the provisions of the former law as to ages, hours, and working conditions should be incorporated in all war contracts, and the Children's Bureau was asked to make inspections in order to learn how far employers were comping with the terms of their contracts. Certain investigations for the purpose of learning the effect of the decision upon the employment of children were also made under the bureau's general powers.
(See: page 8, Administration of the First Federal Child-Labor Law, Childrens Bureau, Department of Labor. Washington, Government Printing Office., 1921.)
May 16, 1922: In reponse to the Supreme Court
decision in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., the board of trustees of the
National Child Labor Committee Board of Trustees "…created a special
subcommittee to study the situation and recommend a course of action."
(See: page 164, The crusade for children : the Children's Aid Society's early years to present, New York : Children's Aid Society, 2008.)
June 1, 1922: Hearing before the Committee on
the Judiciary House of Representatives on House Joint Resolution 327
(22 pages), a proposed constitutional amendment in regard to the
employment of persons under 18 years of age.
June 1, 1922: At the invitation of Samuel
Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), a conference was
held in Washington to consider a course of action following the the Supreme
Court decision in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.. Participating were
representatives of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, the
Catholic University and the National Catholic Welfare Council, the National
Consumers’ League; and the National Women’s Trade Union League, the
U.S.Children’s Bureau, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National
Education Association, the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher
Associations, the National Federation of Teachers, the General Federation of
Women’s Clubs, the National League of Women Voters, the YWCA, the
American Association of University Women, and the National Women’s
Christian Temperance Union. "Out of this gathering emerged the Permanent
Conference for the Abolition of Child Labor, representing some twenty-five
national groups with a variety of political and social views. The Conference
decided that the only way to eliminate child labor was by amending the
Constitution."
(See: pages 163-164, and chapter 7, footnote 2, on page 279 of The crusade for children : the Children's Aid Society's early years to present, New York : Children's Aid Society, 2008.)
June, 1922: In early June, the Permanent
Conference for the Abolition of Child Labor established a committee of ten to
draft a child labor amendment. In preparing the draft the special committee
consulted several noted constitutional lawyers, including Roscoe Pound, former
Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, Professor Ernst Freund of the University of
Chicago Law School, and Joseph P. Chamberlain of Columbia University Law
School. The final version, written by Edward P. Costigan, a member of the
United States Tariff Commission (later U.S. Senator from Colorado) would be
introduced in the Senate on July 26 by Medill McCormick of Illinois and in the
House by Israel M. Foster of Ohio.
(See: page 164, and chapter 7, footnote 5, on page 280 of The crusade for children : the Children's Aid Society's early years to present, New York : Children's Aid Society, 2008. See also: "Federal Regulation of Child Labor, 1906-38,” Grace Abbott. Social Service Review, XIII, (September 1939), 419.)
"The Child Labor Amendment was submitted as follows: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution:
Article........
Section 1. The Congress shall have 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 the State laws shall be suspended to the extent necessary to give effect to legislatin enacted by the Congress [U.S. Statutes, XLIII, Part 1, 670]."
(See: "Federal Regulation of Child Labor, 1906-38,” Grace Abbott. Social Service Review, XIII, (September 1939), 419.)
July 26, 1922: Committee on Public Lands
and Surveys. By Mr. McCORMICK: A joint resolution (S.J. Res. 232) proposing an
amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to child labor; to
the Committee on the Judiciary.
(See: page 10642 of the Congressional Record,of the Sixty-Seventh Congress, Second Session, Volume 62, Part 10, available at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/crecb/_crecb/Volume%20062%20(1922))
February 19, 1923: The Senate Judiciary
Committee favorably reported a proposed amendment that had been submitted by
the National Child Labor Committee, which granted Congress power concurrent
with the several states, to limit or prohibit the labor of persons under the
age of 18 years.
However, Congress adjourned without approving the
amendment. (See New York Times
article FOR CHILD LABOR CONTROL
)
April 9, 1923: Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261
U.S. 525. The Supreme Court ruled that the 1918 District of Columbia
Minimum Wage Act, establishing a federal minimum wage for women and children
employed in the District of Columbia, was an unconstitutional infringement of
liberty of contract.
February 7, 15, 16, 27, 28, and 29, and March 1, 6, 7 and 8, 1924: Hearings (311 pages) before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Sixty-Eighth Congress, First Session, on the Proposed Child-Labor Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
April 24, 1924 (Calendar day April 28, 1924):
House Joint Resolution 184
(2 pages) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States that the Congress shall have power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the
labor of persons under eighteen years of age. Passed the House of
representatives April 26, 1924.
April 26, 1924: The House of Representatives
approved the Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution (H. J. Res. 184) by a vote of 297 to 69.
(See: "Unratified Amendments: Regulating
Child Labor" in Pieces of History, National Archives and Records
Administration, at
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2020/03/24/unratified-amendments-regulating-child-labor/.
See also: Child Labor Amendment Submitted by Congress, 1924, 43 United States
Statutes, Part I, p. 670, in volume 1, pages 536 to 537, The child and the
state ... select documents, with introductory notesby Grace Abbott ...Chicago,
Ill., The University of Chicago press [1938]. See also: Pages 525-526, The
Child Labor Amendment, The House Judiciary Committee Report on the Proposed
Amendment in 1924
. In The child and the state; select documents, with
introductory notes. Grace Abbott. New York, Greenwood Press [1968,
c1938])
May 26, 1924 (Calendar day May 28, 1924):
Three amendments (6
pages) intended to be proposed by Senator Nathaniel B. Dial (D-SC) to House
Joint Resolution 184, the proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United
States giving Congress the power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of
persons under eighteen years of age.
June 2, 1924: The United States Senate
approved the Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution (H. J. Res. 184) by a vote of 61 to 23, with
12 not voting.
September 4, 1924: In an article opposing the
Child Labor Amendment, the National Association of Manufacturers warned that
If adopted, this amendment would be the greatest thing ever done in America
on behalf of the activities of Hell. It would make millions of young people
under 18 years of age idlers in brain and body, and thus make them the devil's
best workshop. It would destroy initiative and self-reliance and manhood and
womanhood of all the coming generations.
(See: "What the Child Labor Amendment Means," Manufacturer's Record (Baltimore, MD., September 4, 1924" in The child and the state ... select documents, with introductory notes by Grace Abbott ...Chicago, Ill., The University of Chicago press [1938]), Pages 557 to 559.)
November 1924: In the "The
Child Labor Amendment, Fact Sheet No. IV" the National League of Women
Voters reviewed how the age limit for child labor was fixed at 18 years or
higher.
October 7, 1926: The National Association of
Manufacturers Committee on Junior Education and Employment issued their report
titled "Answers to Thirteen Leading Question Regarding Employment and Education
of Children." The National Child Labor Committee review of that report, in
their November issue of The American Child, included the statement that
The general trend of their study is as follows: The majority of children who
leave school under sixteen are retarded; the retarded children are usually
mentally inferior and would not profit if they did remain in school. Therefore,
they seem to conclude, attendance should be compulsory only to the fourteenth
year, and these retarded children, at least, should be allowed to go to work at
that age.
(See: page 181 to 182, The crusade for children : the Children's Aid Society's early years to present, New York : Children's Aid Society, 2008. See also The American Child, aMonthly Bulletin of General Child Welfare, November, 1926. Vol. VIII. No. 11, Published Monthly by the National Child Labor Committee. See also: Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, on the Child-Labor Amendment to the Constitution of the United States To Accompany H. J. Res. 184 (House Report No. 395 [68th Cong., 1st sess.; Washington, D.C., 1924]) in Volume 1, Pages 525 to 526, in The child and the state ... select documents, with introductory notes by Grace Abbott ...Chicago, Ill., The University of Chicago press [1938])
August 10, 1933: President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued Executive
Order 6246, requiring government contractors to comply with codes of fair
competition issued under the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). This
became moot when the Supreme Court struck down the NIRA in Schechter Poultry
Corp. v. United States (1935).
March, 1935: An analysis of several hundred
industrial codes adopted under the National Industrial Recovery Act, conducted
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that in general the codes provided for
16 years as the minimum for employment of minors under codes, although higher
age limits were established for industries and occupations with peculiar
hazards.
(See: Page 591 in "Analysis of the Labor Provisions of N. R. A. Codes" by Margaret H. Schoenfeld. Monthly Labor Review.Vol. 40, No. 3 (March 1935), pp. 574-603 (30 pages)
May 27, 1935: In Schechter Corp. v. United States, (295
U.S. 495), the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the National Recovery Act
was unconstitutional.
Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins wrote that "As
the Administration perpared the language of the Fair Labor Standards Act of
1937, "One last minute change was the insertion of a clause prohibiting the
labor of youngsters under sixteen in industries engaged in interstate commerce
or affecting interstate commerce, and providing for not more than eight hours
of work a day for children over sixteen. As Grace Abbott, Chief of the
Children’s Bureau, so eloquently pleaded, “You are hoping that you
have found a way around the Supreme Court. If you have, why not give the
children the benefit by attaching a child labor clause to this bill?” The
President readily agreed and was delighted that we might make this bill cover
child labor as well as low wages and long hours."
(See: page 256, Madam Secretary, Frances Perkins, by George Martin. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1976.)
December 1935: When the National Recovery
Act was passed in 1933, a 16-year minimum was on the statute books of only four
States, three of which were Western nonindustrial States. For the most part,
children were permitted to leave school for work at the age of 14. In contrast,
practically all the codes, beginning with that for the cotton-textile industry,
effective July 17, 1933, prohibited the employment of children under 16.
(See: "Recent Progress in Federal Regulation, 24. Child Labor under the N.R.A." by Ella Ar.villa Merritt. Monthly Labor Review, Vol. XLI (December, 1935). Pages 557 to 559 in The child and the state ... select documents, with introductory notes by Grace Abbott ...Chicago, Ill., The University of Chicago press [1938]))
January 4, 1937: The United States Supreme
Court issued a decision in in the case of Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v.
Illinois Central R. Co., 299 U.S. 334 (1937). The decision included the finding
that "Congress may prevent interstate transportation from being used to bring
into a State articles which are innocuous in themselves, but the local traffic
in which, because of its harmful consequences, has been constitutionally
forbidden by the State."
January 11, 1937: Senator Joel Bennett Clark
(D-MO) introduced S. 592 (4
pages), a bill to regulate interstate commerce in goods, wares, and
merchandise manufactured, produced, or mined by persons under (blank) years of
age, and for other purposes.
March 24, 1937: Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) introduced S. 1976 (6 pages), a bill to regulate interstate transportation of products of child labor in certain cases. The bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce.
March 29, 1937 (calendar day April 5, 1937): Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) introduced an amendment (in the nature of a substitute) to S. 1976, a bill to to regulate interstate transportation of products of child labor in certain cases. The bill was referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce and ordered to be printed.
March 29 (calendar day April 5), 1937: Senator
Edwin C. Johnson (D-CO) introduced S. 2068 (4 pages), a bill to
prevent interstate commerce in the products of child labor, and for other
purposes. The bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Interstate
Commerce.
May 4, 1937: Representative William B. Barry
(D-NY) introduced House Joint
Resolution 354 (72 pages), proposing an amendment to the Constitution
of the United States prohibiting employers from hiring child labor, which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed.
May 6, 1937: Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY)
introduced S. 2345 (7
pages), a bill to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the
several States in the products of child labor. The bill was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce.
May 11, 1937: The Committee on Education and Labor discharged
S. 592 (4
pages), and referred it to the Committee on Interstate Commerce. The bill to regulate interstate commerce in goods, wares, and merchandise manufactured, produced, or mined by persons under (blank) years of age, and for other purposes, was introduced on January 11, 1937.
May 12, 18, and 20, 1937: Hearings (196 pages), before
the Committee on Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, Seventy-Fifth
Congress, First Session, on S. 592 (4 pages), S. 1976, S. 2068 (4 pages), S. 2226, and S. 2345 (7pages),
bills to regulate interstate Commerce in the products of child labor, and for
other purposes.
May 24, 1937: The Fair Labor Standards Act of
1937 was introduced in Congress as S. 2475 in the Senate, and H.R. 7200 in the
House of Representatives.
(See: "May 24, 1937 to June 28, 1938: Introduction and Approval of The Fair Labor Standards Act" at http://vlibrary.info/FLSA/FLSA_IP.html)
June 7, 1937: Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT)
reported S. 2226 [Report No.
726] (11 pages), a bill to regulate interstate commerce in the
products of child labor, with amendments.
June 25, 1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act
of 1938 (FLSA) was passed by Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt
October 24, 1938: The Fair Labor Standards
Act went into effect.
February 3, 1941: In United States v.
Darby, 312 U.S. 100 (1941), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Fair Labor
Standards Act was "within the authority of Congress within the commerce power
and consistent with the Fifth and Tenth Amendments."
September 22, 1943: Representative Hebert
introduced H. R. 3311 to Amend
“An Act to regulate the hours of employment of children employed in the
District of Columbia”, approved May 29, 1929.
===============================================================================================================================================================================
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