The Omaha guide., 1935-06-01

HIGHLIGHTS
Happenings That Affect the Din
ner Pals, Dividend Checks and
Tax Bills of Every Individual.
National and. international
Problems Inseparable from 10
cal Welfare.

-oOo-
Every Supreme Courr makes
history The existing Court has
a chance offered to few of lis
predecessors to add important
pages to that unwritten. unfini-
shed volume which might be it'll
ed 1.-The United States Govern
ment."
Most dramatic recent Court de-
cision was thai of the gold eases.
in which the Administrations m
precedented action Of Selling all
the country 5 gold was held to be
compa ible with the basic law Of
the land; the mach talked about.
little understood Constitu ion. A
few weeks ago the Court passed
on another case which received
fewer headlines, was less dramat-
ic, but which may prove to be Of
even greater Importance than
the gold imbroglio; the Railroad
Pension Act.
This Act was passed by the last
session OF Congress. Under Il. bv
governmental fiat, the railroads
OF the country were forced to
make provision for pensioning
their old employees, whether thew
wan,ed to or not, and whether or
not they had money. This bill
provided that the railroads, pay
ments be pooled, SO that the
stronger lines would help to pro-
vide for the employees Of lines
which were financially weak.
The case went immediately to
court, dragged through a series Of
lower tribunals, arrived at last at
the court Of Last Resort, where
nine wise old men listened 10
long arguments by able counsel
for both sides. Result: The Su-
preme Court declared that the
Act was beyond The powers grant
ed to Congress but the Constitu-
ton, was thus null and void.
The decision is immensely i'm
portant in hat it establishes a
precedent which, in the opinion
OF most commentators learned in
the intricacies Of Constitutional
law, makes it almost inevitable
that the Court will likewise throw
out any social security legislation
that Congress may pass.
In the words of Business
Week. the majority Of the Court
"flatly denied that Congress can
use its constitutional authority
ever interstate commerce for
merely social and humanitarian
ends, as contrasted with the pro-
lection of legal rights That is
a blow to the whole underlying
philosophy Of the New Deal.
Directly following the decision.
New Dealers said that they would
redraw the act, and base it. not
on Congress interstate commerce
power, but on its power to tax.
Here again the Court seems to
stand in the way. 1t has insisted
that a taxing act must be a genu-
Inc attempt to raise federal reve-
nue.; that it cannot be camouflag-
ed so as to use it to promote a
purely social end
Even SO, New Dealers and
others who favor social legisla-
ton; have one chance to emerge
victorious. That chance lies in the
fact that the decision; like so
many major Supreme Court deci-
sions; was 5 to 4. A number of
the Justices are past the usual re-
tirement age, and what Justice
Hughes called "the attrition of
years" may force one or more Of
them to step down before long. In
that case, the President could
place a new Justice on the bench,
whose viewpoint toward the Con-
stitution is liberal and the bal
ance Of power would swing back
to the Observation-Disclosures
Cardozo side. The line is very
clearly drawn on the Court now,
with those four justices support
ing the broad views Of the Consti-
tuition, and with Justice Mercy
nolds, Vandevanter, Sutherland
and Butler clinging to the belief
that the document should not be
stretched in any particular.
The unknown quantity is Justice
Roberts, who votes with one
group one time, another the next.
1t is also interesting that there
appears to be more dissension
within the Court than In the past,
more bitterness in the decisions.
Justice Hughes minority decision
in the Pension case, in which he
held that the commerce clause
gave Congress the necessary
power to pass the Act, amounted
almost to a denunciation Of the
majority.
Thnnn Ia srrrnn stands If