The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-06-06
KEEPING UP
With
THE NE WIS


edged out of the national capital in
favor of the latest game, when is
law?
You start with this problem.
After century and half in which
to perfect its rules of government,
the most efficient country on
earth" discovers there is no rule on
whether a bill dies or becomes a
law in a congressional recess if the
President fails to sign within ten
days of receipt
BY Thursday some one must find
a definite answer, or there is apt
to be a serious governmental dis
pute which only the United States
Supreme Court can settle.
The Muscle Shoals bill is the one
in question. Many consider it one
Of thelmost important passed by the
last session of Congress or bv anv
Congress.
1t is the charter and pride of the
Government ownership advocates.
But, If you believe the power trust"
lobby it is the gateway to Boil
SheVism.
CEVEN years fight against the
~ trust" was required to put it
through the Senate and the House.
1t provides for Government opera
ton of the Muscle Shoals Alabama
hydro-electric project, and manu-
facture of cheap power, fixed
nitrogen and experimental fertilizer.
1t also saves for the Government
the important Cove Greek dam site.
Revelations in the Federal Trade
commission investigation-of public
utility propaganda throughout the
Nation in schools, colleges, clubs,
newspapers, legislatures and Con-
gress-helped force this bill through
Congress at the close of the session.
The bill went to President
Coolidge, who in the past has been
a bitter opponent. Under ordinary
circumstances he would have vetoed
it,. and Congress would have tried
to pass it over the Presidents head.
But this is campaign year. The
President already has used his veto
right so freely that some accuse
him Of misusing this power. More
over, his veto Of the McNary-
Haugen farm relief bill has become
the major partisan issue before the
Republican national convention next
week.
CONSIDERING the farm bill
~ veto, and the public awaken
ing to power "trust" attempts to
control the mind and laws of the
Nation, it was hardly expedient for
the President to veto the Muscle
Shoals bill before Congress recessed.
AT any rate, he did not.
His intention apparently was to
kill it with what is known as a
pocket veto. Under the pocket veto
the President simply holds the bill
for a period of ten days after he
has received it. The bill then being
without signature automatically
dies.
This practice is a common one,
and there is no question of its con-
Stltutionality when applied after
final adjournment Of Congress.
But the situation now is that
Congress is only in interim adjourn
ment, or recess, between the two
regular sessions of this Congress.
What happens if the President
fails to sign the Muscle Shoals bill
by June 7, the end of the ten-day
period?
1t is dead, say White House and
Justice Department officials.
1t is a law, says Senator Norris,
author of the bill.
II T.
TINE same dispute arose during
Il the sixty ninth Congress on an
unlmportant measure, but the issue
between the executive and legisla-
tive branches was not forced to a
showdown. This precedent is de-
scrlbed by Representative Cannon,
former parliamentarian of the
House as follows:
I'VE passed the bill through both
houses and sent it to the President.
He failed to sign it within ten days.
The House judiciary committee at
the next session reported that the
bill was law. This decision was con-
CURED in by the speaker of the
House, and being. questioned by no
member of either House, thereby
became the unanimous opinion OF
Congress.
1.-THE President nevertheless did
not send the bill to the secretary of
State for PRONUNCIATION. The Con-
stitution required PRONUNCIATION of
a new law"
The author of that bill, or law, got
his desired appropriation through
another general bill, and his State
then was not sufficiently interested
to settle the constitutional question
involved by carrying it to the
Supreme Court.
MORRIS disputes the commonly
IN accepted notion. that a pocket
veto is effective in killing a bill be-
tween sessions, by arguing this
would nullify constitutional provi-
sions giving Congress not only the
right, but the duty to pass upon
presidential disapproval of bill.
Norris also cites a Supreme Court
decision affirming the Presidents
right to sign bill during a Christ
mas recess of more than ten days,
which he thinks proves that such a
bill cannot be dead.
If the President fails to sign the
Muscle Shoals bill by Thursday, as