Evening star., 1932-08-15
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

Three grave justices of the Federal
Circuit Court of Appeals have been Sit
ting at Asheville, N. c., for the past
two weeks listening to the pros and cons
of antitrust law application to present.
day conditions Of overproduction and
destructive competition in industry. The
case is the dissolution suit brought by
the Attorney General against Appala-
chian Goals Inc, recently-created sales
organization of a group of bituminous
coal operators. 1t is a test case which
Is certain to make history as well as to
make law. The entire coal industry and
oil and copper industries as well are
awaiting the outcome. For II the Su-
preme Court shall finally rule that the
agency plan Of Appalachian Goals. Inc,
as q stabilization measure does not con-
travene the law the plan is to be widely
copied by other coal operators and the
operators in other industries. Col. Will
liam ]. Donovan, famous Department
of Justice prosecutor during the Cool
idge administration, is counsel in chief
for the defendant company. He 1t was
who had steered the coal operators in
the organization of their selling agency
and attested to its legality If the rule
OF reason were applied to the ANTITRUST
statutes John Lord O'Brian, special as
sistant to the Attorney General, and
Col Donovan's successor in that post,
has personally handled the prosecution
OF the Governments case. The trial
concluded last Friday. and decision.
though not immediate, Is expected In
time to get the suit to the Supreme
Court for argument in the late Autumn.
The Circuit Court judges who will make
the initial momentous decision are
Messrs. John j. Parker OF Charlotte,
N. c.: Elliott Northcutt Of Huntington,
w. Va, and Morris A. Soper Of Balti-
more.
In staging the notification ceremonies
in Constitution Hall in Washington. Mr..
Hoover took a leaf out of the book of
his White House predecessr. 1t may be
recalled that in 1924. when Calvin
Coolidge was to be notified" Continen-
tai Memorial Hall here of the D. A. r.
(the ladies had not then yet built Con-
stitution HalD was chosen for the cere-
monies. In 1920 both Harding and Cox
were notified in what were then gener-
ally referred to as Main Street" settings;
Harding in the Chautauqua pavilion at
Marion, Ohio. and Cox at the Mont
gomery County fair grounds, at DAYTON.
Eight years ago. John w. Davis
journeyed from New York to the old
homestead at Clarksburg. w Va, to be
notified. Gov. Smith chose the State
Capitol at Albany and Mr. Hoover the
Leland Stanford Stadium at Palo Alto
in 1928. Gov. RooSevelts flight to
Chicago to make his speech Of accept
ance was dramatic and novel. but it Is
doubtful that he established 9 new
custom.
1t Is pretty rough on Mr. Hoover
to attribute the sharp downward lurch
of stock market prices last Friday to
alleged disappointment with the
Presidents acceptance address of the
preceding evening There Is no gain
saying the fact that by and large the
ccuntry's reaction to the Hoover opus
was in the main favorable. Especially
was its emphasis on the conservative
side as opposed to radicalism calculated
to appeal strongly to the property
| classes. Reiterated administration op-
position to any foreign debt cancella-
ton would look to be the only "bearish"
phase Of the address. AS for the stock
market, the upward rush of the pre-
ceding two weeks oYerShot the mark,
according to the financial sharpS, and
the reaction" was an inevitable cor
rection" by the market Itself.
From the Republican standpoint an
even more mischievous heresy is the