The word ``produced'' as used in the Act is defined by section 3(j)
to mean:
* * * produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any other manner
worked on in any state; * * * 12
12 The remaining portion of section 3(j) provides: `` * * *
and for the purposes of this Act an employee shall be deemed to have
been engaged in the production of goods if such employee was employed in
producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, transporting, or in any
other manner working on such goods, or in any closely related process or
occupation directly essential to the production thereof, in any State.''
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(a) The prohibition of section 12(a) cannot apply to a shipment of
goods unless those goods (including any part or ingredient thereof) were
actually ``produced'' in and removed from an establishment where
oppressive child labor was employed. This provision is applicable even
though the under-age employee does not engage in the production of the
goods themselves if somewhere in the establishment in or about which he
is employed goods are ``produced'' which are subsequently shipped or
delivered for shipment in commerce. In contrast to this restrictive
requirement of section 12(a), it
will be noted that the employees covered under the wage and hours
provisions as engaged in the production of goods for commerce are not
limited to those in or about establishments where such goods are being
produced. If the requisite relationship 13 to production of
such goods is present, an employee is covered for wage and hours
purposes regardless of whether his work brings him in or near any
establishment where the goods are produced.14
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13 See footnote 12.
14 See part 776 of this title (interpretative Bulletin on
the coverage of the wage and hours provisions) issued by the
Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division. Also, see Secs. 570.112 and
570.113.
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(b) Since the first word in the definition of ``produced'' repeats
the term being defined, it seems clear that the first word must carry
the meaning that it has in everyday language. Goods are commonly spoken
of as ``produced'' if they have been brought into being as a result of
the application of work. The words ``manufactured'' and ``mined'' in the
definition refer to special forms of production. The former term is
generally applied to the products of industry where existing raw
materials are transformed into new or different articles by the use of
industrial methods, either by the aid of machinery or by manual
operations. Mining is a type of productive activity involving the taking
of materials from the ground, such as coal from a coal mine, oil from
oil wells, or stone from quarries. The statute also defines the term
``produced'' to mean ``handled'' or ``in any other manner work on.''
15 These words relate not only to operations carried on in
the course of manufacturing, mining, or production as commonly
described, but include as well all kinds of operations which prepare
goods for their entry into the stream of commerce, without regard to
whether the goods are to be further processed or are so-called
``finished goods.'' 16 Accordingly, warehouses, fruit and
vegetable packing sheds, distribution yards, grain elevators, etc.,
where goods are sorted, graded, stored, packed, labeled or otherwise
handled or worked on in preparation for their shipment out of the State
are producing establishments for purposes of section 12(a).17
However, the handling or working on goods, performed by employees of
carriers which accomplishes the interstate transit or movement in
commerce itself, does not constitute production under the Act.18
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15 For a more complete discussion of these words, see
Sec. 776.16 of part 776 (bulletin on coverage of the wage and hours
provisions) of chapter V of this title.
16 In Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lenroot, 323 U.S.
490, the Supreme Court stated that these words bring within the
statutory definition ``every step in putting the subject of commerce in
a state to enter commerce,'' including ``all steps, whether manufacture
or not, which lead to readiness for putting goods into the stream of
commerce'' and ``every kind of incidental operation preparatory to
putting goods into the stream of commerce.''
17 Lenroot v. Kemp and Lenroot v. Hazlehurst Mercantile
Co., 153 F. 2d 153 (C.A. 5), where the court directed issuance of
injunctions to restrain violations of the child labor provisions by
operators of vegetable packing sheds at which they bought, then washed,
sorted, crated, and packed cabbage and tomatoes for shipment in
interstate commerce.
18 Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Lenroot, 323 U.S. 490.
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