Evening star., 1933-09-03
HOLDS EMERGENCY
ACT HITS STATES
Representative Beck Tells
Bar Group Constitution
Has Been Ignored.
BY the Associated Press.
ATLANTIC CITY

By the Associated Press.
ATLANTIC CITY, N. j., September
"A gradual extension of Federal
power and relegation CT the State Ito
the ignorable status of subordinate po-
lice provinces" as an outcome Of re-
cent emergency legislation. were seen
today by Representative James M. Beck,
Republican. of Pennsylvania.
Addressing the thirty-eighth annual
convention of the Maryland Bar ASso-
citation. Beck said:
1T is unouestionablv true that the
Constitution was based upon the in
dividualistic state of society, and that
it has required considerable adaptation
to make it work for what is now a col
lectivistic state
Beck asserted that Congress, with the
avowedly high purpose" OF saving the
Nation itself, was disposed to ignore
the Constitution and consequently had
made little attempt to reconcile the
emergency legislation with the coun-
try's fundamental charter.
People Care Little.
The majority of the people, in Beck's
opinion. cared little whether the Gen.
stitution had been violated.
1T is difficult to say" Beck went on
obliterated the line of demarcation be-
tween interstate and intrastate COM
merce and made Federal officials the
dictator Of farm and factory, can be
reconciled with any grant of powers In
the Constitution
The theory held by many lawyers In
Congress in adopted the emergency
measures amounted, in effect, to say
ing the only way to save the Constitu-
ton is to destroy it. To them the Con
stitution was doomed unless temporary
measures could be adopted without ref
erence to the constitutional powers o1
Congress.
The fact is that while the Supreme
Court has rendered inestimable service
in preserving Federal powers from in
vasion, 1t has too often been ineffective
IN defending State powers from unjust
Federal invasion. This Is because In
democracy no court could long defeat
the will Of Congress which no longer
feels the sense of constitutional re-
straint
Beck concluded that whatever the
future form Of government may be- let
US at least be honest with ourselves. y
1T is as bad for nation as for an
individual to lead a double life" he
Ing such a life when it is guilty OF
hypocritical pretension Of adhering to
the Constitution as a saded and bind
ing compact and simultaneously ignor-
ing practice Of its basic theories"
Judge Dennis Heads Body.
The association elected Chief Judge
Samuel K. Dennis OF the State SUI
preme Bench Of Baltimore. president
to succeed w. Mason Shehan OF
Easton, Md
A banquet tonight was the last event
on the convention program.
Creation of Federal Crime Investi.
cation Bureau along the lines of
England's Scotland Yard to combat a
foreseen crime wave, was urged by
George Gordon Battle, New York
attorney.
Battle suggested that the bureau,
with central Office at Washington,
have branches throughout the Nation
In various sections corresponding
roughly to those OF the Federal Reserve
System.
He said an army of 100000 boot
leggers would constitute an army o.
as many unemployed when repeal of
the eighteenth amendment Is effected
before the close Of the year.
They have made sums ranging into
many millions each year." he said
They are used to easy and abundant
incomes and are unused and adverse
to work. Already they are beginning
to resort to other illegal pursuits such
as kidnapping and various rackets for
q living. In this country each year
5000 persons are kidnapped, 10000 muir
dersd and $4,000 robbed"
Battle observed that the chief OBJ
Jectlons to a Federal Scotland Yard
were that 1t would violate State rights
and entail great expense.
The answer to those objections is
that the benefit would vastly overweight
the disadvantages" he concluded.