Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-04-02
The Political Mill
By C.. Could Lincoln.

Some Of the constitutional lawyers
| on Capitol Hill have been wondering
whether the appointment of Senator
Robert F. Wagner of New York to be
chairman of the National Labor Board
Is in violation OF paragraph 2, Sec
! tion of Article of the Constitution.
This clause in the Constitution reads:
mo Senator or Representative shall,
| during the time for which he was
elected, be appointed to any civil
office under the authority Of the
, United States, which shall have been
created, or the emoluments whereof
shall have been increased during such
| time; and no person holding any
: cfhce under the United States shall
| be a member Of either house during
his continuance in ONCE"
The board Of which Senator Wag-
! ner is chairman was set up in con-
nection with the operation of the
national industrial recovery act, which
was passed during the last session OF
, Congress, when. of course, Senator
Wagner was a member Of THE Senate.
Indeed. he had a great deal to do
| with the passage of this measure
| Now the question is: Does the office
! Of chairman of the National Labor
| Board constitute an office under the
! United States" in the meaning of the
| Constitution? Some say it does and
! some say 1t does not Senator Wag-
ner himself says that he considered
the matter when he accepted the
| 0e oh h.
conclusion that there was no viola
ton OF the Constitution whatever in
his serving as chairman, without SAL
arv and without allowances, as he
does. Furthermore. Senator Wagner
| believes that his accepting the chair
| manship Of the board Is certainly not
| as much Of a border line case as the
acceptance by Senators Robinson of
Arkansas and Reed of Pennsylvania
=, OF appointments as delegates to the
London Naval Conference, or as the
| appointments of Senators Pittman of
| Nevada and Cummins OF Michigan to
! the American delegation which repre-
sented the United States at the Lon
don Economic Conference.
| 4
Members Of the Senate. Republican
and Democratic alike, whose attention
has been called to the seeming viola
ton OF the constitutional clause by
the appointment of Senator Wagner
as Chairman of the Labor Board, are
none Of them inclined to suggest that
the New York Senator should give
up either his Senate seat or his chair
manshlp Of the board. In the first
place, Senator Wagner Is highly re-
garded by his colleagues, who consider
him a most valuable Senator. In
The second place they think he has
been doing lot of good work as
head of the Labor Board. But the
| ultra strict conStitutionalists say that
II the Constitution is to be construed
as 1t is written they do not believe
that Senator Wagner can hold these
two positions. The fact that he does
i not take pay for serving as chairman
OF the Labor Board. they contend
has nothing to do with the matter.
They insist that the Craftsmanship
OF this board is clearly IAN office
under the United States; that it
could not be construed to mean any
| thing else. And they say that mem
bers of Congress. or at least one men,
Der OF Congress had to give up his
place in Congress in the past because
he had accepted appointment to an
Office under the Government.
4 +
| Senator Wagner has continued on
| as chairman of the Labor Board under
his own protest. Before Congress re-
assembled he urged the President to
let him step out Of the place. But
the President prevailed upon the
! Senator to hold on. Doubtless he
would be glad now to be relieved of
this added responsibility.
There seem to be many other cases
OF Senator's and Representatives who
have accepted appointments ana
served IN Offices to aid the Govern
ment of the United States The cases
! OF The Senators who went to Europe
to serve as American delegates to
important international conferences
have already been mentioned. While
those Senators received no salary
| they did have their expenses paid by
the Government. There are the cases.
! too, OF retired Army officers who
have been elected to Congress A
retired Army officer is still to all in
! tents and purposes an officer of the
! United States and subject to call to
active service.
X + \
When the Constitution was written
the founders of the republic had def
nitely in mind prohibiting the ap-
| pointments by a Chief Executive OF
members Of Congress to offices under
the Government, Offices which might
prove valuable for one reason or an
other. The British crown in the
| revolutionary days had more or less
honeycombed Parliament with rotten
ness by making appointments of it's
members to lucrative offices. The
trainers of the Constitution felt that
1t would be a terrible mistake to per-
init President of the United States
to tie members Of the legislative body
to MIN by giving them jobs outside
OF the halls Of Congress. No one
! would suggest for a minute that there
had been any attempt to bride Senator
wagner by his appointment to head
the Labor Board In the first place.
Senator Wagner already was strongly
in support OF the Roosevelt admin
istration. In the second place, the
Craftsmanship was just another hard
job for the New Yorker to tackle.
1t seems quite clear, however, that if
any salary was attached to this office
OF chairman and was paid to Senator
Wagner, it WOULD be a clear violation
of the Constitution. Indeed, if his
service on the board as chairman was
| Of real value to him in some other
way. for example in obtaining votes
for him when it comes time for him
to be reelected, there would be q
serious question Of propriety involved.
But members of Congress agree that
Senator Wagner is doing much for his
country by serving as chairman of the
Labor Board, and they are not inclined
to be captious about this matter.
X x
This clause in the Constitution
prohibiting members of Congress
from being appointed to civil offices
created by legislation during the