Legislation for the protection of workers in this country has encountered several obstacles, three of which deserve notice in this connection. First, the typical American has always strongly insisted on the right to pursue his own economic course without the interference of government agencies. Even when he found himself at a disadvantage, he was enough of a fighter to want to stand on his own feet. Second, the great number of lawmaking bodies in this country (Congress and forty-eight state legislatures) makes uniform legislation impossible. Consequently, each state legislature hesitates to enact any labor law that might drive industry into some other state. A state law, for example, which would set the age limit of children permitted to work in cotton factories at a higher point than some neighboring state had set it, would run the risk of losing some of its cotton factories. Third, the courts of this country, both state and federal, have declared many labor laws to be null on the ground that they were contrary to the Constitution of the United States or to the constitution of the state to which they applied. As a result, the will of the people has been thwarted, unconsciously to be sure, by constitutions drawn before the need for labor legislation had arisen.