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1936 › Alf Landon (Republican) › Amending the Constitution to enlarge (or restrain) federal power

Wages, hours and child labor by State law and interstate compact -- and a constitutional amendment giving the States power if the courts forbid

pledge_forwardspecific_pledgecandidate_directevidence A Federal–State RelationsLabor & Employment similar solutions · similar reasoning

Solution

Support State laws and compacts against sweatshops and child labor 'within the Constitution as it now stands'; if working conditions cannot be regulated by the States, favor an amendment giving the States the necessary powers. Change only by amendment, never by usurpation.

Rationale

'If added power is needed, the people have set out how that authority may be had from them if they wish to give it.'

The platform said no amendment was needed; the candidate moved to a conditional amendment after the Court's 1936 Tipaldo decision voided New York's minimum-wage law.

Statements (3)

1936-06-11 · Republican National Convention, Cleveland (platform) · conventionparty_platform ✓ verified

Support the adoption of state laws and interstate compacts to abolish sweatshops and child labor, and to protect women and children with respect to maximum hours, minimum wages and working conditions. We believe that this can be done within the Constitution as it now stands.

Source: Republican Party Platform of 1936 (1936-06-09)

1936-07-23 · Acceptance address, Topeka · conventioncandidate_direct ✓ verified

It is not my belief that the Constitution is above change. The people have the right, by the means they have prescribed, to change their form of Government to fit their wishes. If they could not do this, they would not be free. But change must come by and through the people and not by usurpation.

Source: Address Accepting the Republican Presidential Nomination in Topeka, Kansas (1936-07-23)

1936-10-29 · Madison Square Garden, New York (Evening Star text) · generalcandidate_direct ✓ verified

I am on record that if proper working con dition# cannot be regulated by the States, I shall favor a constitutional amendment giving the States the necessary powers.

Source: Texts of Landon's New York Addresses (Evening Star, Oct. 30, 1936, p. 41) (1936-10-30)

Follow-through

not_applicable

Made moot within months: West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (March 29, 1937) upheld State minimum-wage laws, so no amendment was needed for the States; the federal route Landon opposed was taken in the FLSA.

Enacted by others

1937-03-29

Franklin D. Roosevelt

litigation West Coast Hotel v. Parrish upholds State minimum wage laws

The condition for Landon's amendment never arose. source

Other positions on this issue

New federal activities only when legalized by constitutional amendment -- 'the horse and buggy method' — Frank Knox, 1936 specific_pledge
Meet constitutional obstacles by 'clarifying amendment' -- and say nothing about the Supreme Court — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936 directional_stance

1936-landon-constitutional-amendment-for-state-labor-powers-if-needed · created by claude-fable-5-1 · review: unreviewed