WILLIAM H. O'CONNELL
(Constantina)
The Supreme Court had ruled that the Constitution prohibited the Federal Government from regulating conditions of child labor. A Constitutional amendment was passed by Congress and submitted to the States for ratification. That amendment is still the legal basis for all the Federal involvement in child labor. However there were many opponents. The idea of telling an employer that he could not work an 8 year old child for 14 hours a day was actually considered Communistic by some right wing elements. This quotation is famous for two reasons: First, it illustrates the extreme view against any kind of regulation of business that a strong minority held at the time. Second, this was a statement by a Roman Catholic Cardinal. The Catholic has generally been one of the progressive forces for labor reform (with the exception of racial discrimination and slavery) in the United States. Most modern Catholics are very surprised that a Cardinal actually issued such a Pastoral Letter—especially since he had been progressive on other issues {627510}.
O'Connell was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Boston with right of succession and Titular Archbishop of Constantina on February 21, 1906. As coadjutor, he served as the designated successor of Archbishop John Williams, who was then in declining health. He later succeeded Williams as the second Archbishop of Boston upon the latter's death on August 30, 1907.
