A 1900 census revealed that approximately 2 million American children worked in menial and monotonous labor. The census report - which from a subliminal sense also reveals that these children are poverty stricken as they need work - opened America's eyes as the people pushed for labor reforms (which was deemed as a detriment to the future welfare of society). The first child labor bill, the Keating-Owen bill of 1916, claimed that the government's should impliment the income from interstate commerce to regulate child labor. The act also went to the extent of banning the sale of products from any storefront that employed underage children. The Act was passed by Congress and ratified, but the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional 1918 as it disparagingly went beyond government's powers to regulate interstate commerce. In response, a second child labor bill was passed in 1918, which also took advantage of government taxation to regulate child labor. Expectedly, this was soon found unconstitutional in 1922, as the Court reasoned that “The power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce does not extend to curbing the power of the states to regulate local trade.” The public was undeterred, and with time, an amendment was proposed that would justifiably give Congress the power to regulate child labor. Surpassing disputes and conspiratorial cabals, the actions for an amendment to protect child welfare culminated into the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. The Supreme Court would again call out the wrongs of the act, but with time (1941), the Court declared it would uphold the act, which is still in effect today.
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