Evening star., 1933-12-15
STATE n. R. A. LAWS
HELD LATEST MOVE
Program Planned to Remove
Doubt as to Constitution
aIity of Reform.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Forty-eight N. R. A. laws, one in
every State of the Union, so as to re-
move doubt as to the constitutionality
of the new deals principal business re-
form, is the next objective of the
administration.
Gov. Winant of New Hampshire has
taken the initiative in proposing that
the national industrial recovery act be
put on the statute books of his State.
He recommended this after a recent
conference with President Roosevelt.
And it is significant that Mr.. winant
is a Republican Governor. sss -----
Most of the States of the Union
today have Democratic Governors.
Whether they were swept into Office
on the tide of the Roosevelt victory of
1882 or already were in power, they
are stanch defenders of the new deal.
They can be expected in the Winter
of 1888, when many Legislatures meet,
to push for the passage of the new in
dustrial recovery laws. Most of the
Legislatures which meet every two years
will not be in session in 1888 unless
special sessions are convened.
Easier to Get State Laws.
If some day the Supreme Court of
the United States should declare un-
constitutional that part of the N. R. A. s
activity which embraces traffic within
State. it is more than likely that the
! movement for the passage of State laws
would receive a decided impetus. It
would be much easier to secure State
laws than to get constitutional amend
ment adopted.
There is some question, of course,
whether ultimately a constitutional
amendment would not be necessary any
how SO as to take care Of the intricate
problems of jurisdiction that are coming
up in connection with the N. r. A.
Thus, while the Federal antitrust laws
nave been suspended, no such immunity
from prosecution under State antitrust
laws can be given. This conflict of
authority has not yet arisen with re-
spect to any major point, but it is in
ev1table that challenge of some kind
Will occur when the code authorities are
further developed.
Problems relating to interstate regu-
latlon especially as between adjacent
States will require legislation of an
emergency character to avoid constitu-
tlonal difficulties. Thus the milk
licensing agreements which are being
tested in the courts now and which
have been sustained thus far may run
up against an adverse Supreme Court
opinion, especially with reference to
transactions in milk that do not cross
State lines.
Act Held Unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court of the United
States has already held that a price
fixing law for the oil industry enacted
by the State of Tennessee was uncon-
Stitutional and it has similarly held
that the ice business in Oklahoma was
not affected with the public interest," u
If, therefore, the Supreme Court has
indicated that public control of busi-
ness is not matter of arbitrary selec-
tion Of the businesses that can be con-
trolled. it may be that constitutional
amendment will be required to, cover
businesses operating wholly within
State lines. interstate TRANSACTIONS d.
rectly or indirectly in many businesses
are involved and it may be that the
Federal authority under the new deal
will be sustained with respect to inter-
state commerce. But to make the new
deal as vulnerable against legal attack
as possible. the passage Of State laws
is bound to be urged by the Roosevelt
administration. When the Volstead act
was passed by Congress it did not take
long to get most of the States to follow
Under the leadership of Mr.. Roose-
| velt the States are likely to solidify
the new deal, especially If experience
shows the economic wisdom or sound
ness of the policy.
(Copyright. 1889