Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-09
Limitation on His Right to
Appoint Board Members
Objected to Strongly.
PRICE-FIXING CHANCES
ALSO CAUSING ANXIETY
Advocates of McNary- -Haugen
Measure Inclined to Press Pas
sage in Present Form.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

President Coolidge will veto the Nc
Nary-Haugen bill if it comes to him
in it's present form.
This determination is based on a
number of phases of the bill which
are Objectionable to the President.
They can be removed if the pro-
ponents of farm legislation care to
do so, but indications are that they
prefer the present program.
Mr.. Coolidge objects to the pro
vision that the farm organizations of
the country shall appoint the mem
bers of the proposed Federal Farm
Board and that the Chief Executive
shall act as a rubber stamp in accept
ing the nomina tions made for him.
Such an usurpatiOn of the executive
authority, it is contended, has never
before been asked of a Chief Execu
tive.
Rail Board Comparison.
There have been provisions to the
effect that appointments shall be made
from a certain group, but this has
always been on boards or commissions
in which freedom of choice as to in
dividuals was left to the President.
The nearest approach to the Nc
Nary Haugen proposal was in the
provisions of the transportation act
Of 1920 creating the Railroad Labor
Board, which has since been abolished.
Three members were nominated by
employers and three by labor organiZa-
tions, but the President had no re-
striction whatsoever. placed upon him
with respect to the three members of
the public group.
If the McNary-Haugen bill provided
for four members from farm organZa-
tions. four from the grain export com
panies and four to represent the pub
lie, namely the Government itself,
there would be less objection at the
White House to the proposal.
Limitations on Executive.
The McNary- Haugen bill, if enacted
into law. would have IL members on
the Federal Farm Board nominated
and selected by the farm organiza-
tions themselves, and while it is true
the President could select from the
three nominations made in each of
the IL districts, he would have no
power to go beyond that and he would
be compelled to select one from the
group of three even though all three
might be undesirable appointments.
No such blanket restriction on the
executive power of appointment has
ever been made by Congress.
Entirely apart from this provision
there still remains the question of
how far the farm board would go in
the realm of price-fiXing. a principle
that is fundamentally obnoxious to
the President. The friends of the
McNary- -Haugen bill argue that the
board would merely in an emergency
withhold the surplus from the export
market. and that this automatically
would affect the price, but the Presi-
dent does not like the idea of having
a Government board accept the res
possibility for affecting market prices.
Crisp Measure.
The Curtfs.Crisp bill. on the other
hand, which the President favors,
would have II persons appointed by
the President and this board would
in emergencies aid in the formation of
private corporations out of the CO.
operatives, and the Government would
extend the necessary credits to these
corporations whenever the latter de-
cided to withhold their product from
markets to affect the price.
But the responsibility for price fix.
jng would be on the farm corporations
themselves.
Politically Il veto of the McNary-
Haugen bill viii affect Mr.. Coolidge's
fortunes to large extent. Vt would
ALLEVIATE Republicans of the Middle
West, but the friends of Mr.. Coolidge
think he has lost that group anyhow,
whereas if he signed the McNary-
Haugen bill he would forfeit the sup.
port and friendship of Eastern Repub.
licans. who would view the signature
as the surrender of a conviction to
political expediency. Mr.. Coolidge will
stick to his convictions iA the bill
comes to him unmodified
tCopyright 1927