Fair Labor Standards Act
In 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, to draft legislation that would eliminate "labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standards of living necessary for health, efficiency and well-being of workers". Thomas Corcoran and Benjamin Cohen were given responsibility to draft the legislation. Grace Abbott, Chief of the Children's Bureau, approached Perkins and suggested: "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 Fair Labor Standards Act was passed by Congress on 25th June, 1938. The act established maximum working hours of 44 a week for the first year, 42 for the second, and 40 thereafter. Minimum wages of 25 cents an hour were established for the first year, 30 cents for the second, and 40 cents over a period of the next six years. The Fair Labor Standards Act also prohibited child labor in all industries engaged in producing goods in inter-state commerce. The act set the minimum age at 14 for employment outside of school hours in non-manufacturing jobs, at 16 for employment during school hours, and 18 for hazardous occupations.
Claude Pepper , who had played a major role in getting the legislation passed. As a result in 1938 there was an attempt by J. Mark Wilcox to unseat him in the 1938 Democratic Party primary in Florida. As Jean Edward Smith, the author of FDR (2008) has pointed out: "Claude Pepper faced an uphill primary fight against Congressman J. Mark Wilcox of West Palm Beach, an ultra-conservative member of the Florida business establishment who made opposition to the wages and hours bill the centerpiece of his campaign. Wilcox was a marvel on the stump, and prognosticators gave Pepper little chance. In the colorful rhetoric of the Sunshine State, Wilcox titillated back country audiences with rumors that Pepper had been guilty of celibacy before marriage and addicted to monogamy ever since.... Thomas Corcoran, a Harvard Law School classmate of Pepper, funneled funds from private donors into the campaign, and on May 3 Pepper won an upset victory, beating Wilcox by 65,000 votes."
Primary Sources
(1) Frances Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew (1946)
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.
(2) Jean Edward Smith, FDR (2008)
Claude Pepper faced an uphill primary fight against Congressman J. Mark Wilcox of West Palm Beach, an ultra-conservative member of the Florida business establishment who made opposition to the wages and hours bill the centerpiece of his campaign. Wilcox was a marvel on the stump, and prognosticators gave Pepper little chance. In the colorful rhetoric of the Sunshine State, Wilcox titillated back country audiences with rumors that Pepper had been guilty of celibacy before marriage and addicted to monogamy ever since.... Thomas Corcoran, a Harvard Law School classmate of Pepper, funneled funds from private donors into the campaign, and on May 3 Pepper won an upset victory, beating Wilcox by 65,000 votes.