LAD #29: Keating Owen Child Labor Law

In simple terms, the Keating Owen Act was put in place to prevent the commerce between states of products that employed child labor. For any product made with labor by a person younger than sixteen, interstate trade could not be conducted with that product. The practice of making children ages 14 to 16 work more than 6 days, earlier than 6am, or later than 7pm was outlawed. The act also gave the Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Labor to enforce temporary rules in order to make sure the Keating Owen act was carried out. The Secretary of Labor could inspect various workplaces to make sure the stipulations were followed. If the act was violated, the violations were to be immediately brought to court with no delay of punishments--a fine of $200 for the first offense and a fine of up to $1000 or a three month imprisonment after that.