PAMPHLET No. 216 (50. Postpaid) National Child Labor Committee (INCORPORATED) 105 EAST 22D STREET, NEW YORK CITY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND CHILD LABOR A BRIEF FOR THE PALMER-OWEN CHILD LABOR BILL BY OWEN R. LOVEJOY, General Secretary, National Child Labor Committee HOUSE BILL No. 12292 SENATE BILL No. 4571 NEW YORK, MARCH, 1914. MEMORANDUM ON THE PALMER-OWEN CHILD LABOR BILL. BY OWEN R. LOVEJOY This memorandum is addressed to those who are opposed to child labor. The exploitation of the labor of little children, and the excessive burdens upon older children who might wisely be employed under reasonable limitations have been so generally condemned in a majority of our states as well as in older industrial civilizations that we here assume the need for legal restrictions. Those who do not accept this fundamental proposition are referred to the publications of the National Child Labor Committee in promoting its general educational campaigns and to the improved laws in forty states enacted within the ten years we have been at work. We here face two questions, first, whether any kind of federal law should be applied to this abuse; and second, whether the PalmerOwen Bill is adapted to meet the needs. The text of the bill is as follows: A BILL. To prevent interstate commerce in the pro- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. On and after January 1, 1915, no person, partnership, association or corporation or any agent or employee thereof manufacturing, producing or dealing in the products of any mine or quarry in which children under sixteen years of age are employed or permitted to work at any time; or of any mill, cannery, workshop, factory or manufacturing establishment in which children under fourteen years of age are employed or permitted to work at any time or in which children between fourteen and sixteen years of age are employed or permitted to work more than eight hours in any day or more than six days in any weck, or after the hour of 7 P. M. or before the hour of 7 A. M. of any day, shall ship or offer or deliver for shipment such products in interstate commerce. Section 2. That the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor and the Attorney General shall constitute a Board to make, and from time to time to amend, rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Act. |