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Page 142
which the licensure is intended to assure is rather far-fetched. The extent to which such requirements go is sometimes little short of ludicrous. A few more quotations from Gellhorn may provide a touch of comic relief.4
One of the most amusing sets of regulations is that laid down for barbers, a trade that is licensed in many places. Here is an example from a law which was declared invalid by Maryland courts, though similar language can be found in statutes of other states which were declared legal. "The court was depressed rather than impressed by a legislative command that neophyte barbers must receive formal instruction in the 'scientific fundamentals for barbering, hygiene, bacteriology, histology of the hair, skin, nails, muscles and nerves, structure of the head, face and neck, elementary chemistry relating to sterilization and antiseptics, disease of the skin, hair, glands and nails, haircutting, shaving and arranging, dressing, coloring, bleaching, and tinting of the hair'."5 One more quotation on the barbers: "Of eighteen representative states included in a study of barbering regulations in 1929, not one then commanded an aspirant to be a graduate of a 'barber college,' though apprenticeship was necessary in all. Today, the states typically insist upon graduation from a barbering school that provides not less (and often much more) than one thousand hours of instruction in 'theoretical subjects' such as sterilization of instruments, and this must still be followed by apprenticeship." 6 I trust these quotations make it clear that the problem of licensing of occupations is something more than a trivial illustration of the problem of state intervention, that it is already in this country a serious infringement on the freedom of individuals to pursue activities of their own choice, and that it threatens to become a much more serious one with the continual pressure upon legislatures to extend it.
Before discussing the advantages and disadvantages of licens-
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4 In fairness to Walter Gellhorn, I should note that he does not share my view that the correct solution to these problems is to abandon licensing. On the contrary, he thinks that while licensing has gone much too far it has some real functions to perform. He suggests procedural reforms and changes that in his view would limit the abuse of licensure arrangements.
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5Ibid., pp. 12122.
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6Ibid., p. 146.

 
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