Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-05
The Scalping Law Decision.

The latest f1ve-four decision OF the
Supreme Court. which denied the con-
stitutionality of the New York law
limiting the profit which brokers may
make through the sale Of theater
tickets, has an infinitely broader sig
nif1cAnce than it's immediate effect.
That 1t was the opinion OF the ma
jority Of the court that means other
than legislative enactments must be
found for controlling the souginS Of
the public by unsorupulous brokers
was, in the final analysis. entirely in
cidental. What the Ave justices were
basically dealing with was the whole
question of price.fxing for commodi-
ties and services rendered. And there
are few more important considerations
before this country or any other today.
That the court categorized theater
tickets among the normal privately
must traffic under the basic economic
laws of supply and demand rather
than Under artificially created condi-
tons was a matter of no great mo-
ment one way or the other. That 1t
reaffirmed the fact that the Constitu-
ton under which this Government ex.
lists prohibits tampering with the
axions Of economy, IL of broad and
happy significance. For in this day
and age Of visionary and hazardous
experimentation with those axioms,
we and the world at large have need
Of such reinsurance.
The ruling of the court gives such
assurance. 1t asserts that while there
are specific types of cooperative en-
terprise which must. because Of their
relationship to national commerce or
public utility, be regulated by the
Government. save in circumstances
OF national emergency private
enterprise in general must be con-
Quoted under natural rather than
artificial law. 1t holds in effect that
there is no more reason for regulating
the prices charged by ticket brokers
than for regulating the prices charged
by retail butchers or grocers, tailors,
automobile manufacturers, landlords
Of popcorn vendors. It denies that any
such regulation is possible under the
American Constitution in normal
periods.
The logic Of the court is to all in
tents and purposes that followed by
President Coolidge in his veto of the
McNary.Hausen farm bill. The New
York anti-scalping law was a price
fixing measure under which down.
ward level Of prices for a given com.
modify was effected. The McNary.
Haugen bill was price-fixing meas
ure under which an upward level Of
prices for given commodities would
have been effected had 1t become
law. The principle in each instance
Is the same. And 1t is a principle for
hidden by the Constitution of the
United States.
Even an evil must be temporarily
endured to sustain the structure
upon which this Nation has attained
its present-day felicity. The gougins
Of the public by INSCRIPTIONS ticket
scalpers in New York and elsewhere
is such an evil on minor scale. The
predicament of certain agricultural
interests Of the country in recent
years is such an evil on a major scale.
But both of these evils are as surely
susceptible Of correction under the
proved laws of economics as that
there are such laws. And no group
interest or political expediency
should, even in the laudable search
for much-to-be-desired consumnla.
ton. be permitted to jeopardize those
American fundamentals in which the
general public interest is so vitality
involved