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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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with the free operation of interstate commerce. The Supreme Court has always upheld state legislation on the regulation of hours and minimum wages, and general working conditions, as witnessed by the New York State law, which the Supreme Court had upheld at every point. Every item in the New York State law had been appealed and taken to the Supreme Court. In every case the Supreme Court had sustained it, or I think it had. Perhaps there was one case where they wouldn't.

At any rate, we began studying how this could be done. The Women's Bureau was peculiarly interested in all this, because whatever legislation had been sustained had had to do with women. The Children's Bureau and the Women's Bureau were both deeply concerned with this and both had made studies on the situation and had reported on it. The Children's Bureau had been a leader in the effort to got child labor legislation, and had even formulated the idea that we should have an amendment to the Constitution which would permit the regulation and prohibition of the labor of children. Also, these two bureaus ware about the two best bureaus in the United States Department of labor when I came in. Practically every other bureau was feeble, if not absolutely no good. But these two were good, well-organized bureaus and they had some competent people in them. So I put





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