Evening star., 1935-03-02

what makes the New Dealers so
certain that the court will uphold
them whenever they give it leg to
stand on is a hidden paragraph in its
decision nearly a year ago in the
Minnesota mortgage case. The Ian
guage then employed by the court was:
Neither property nor contract
rights are absolute: for Government
cannot exist if the citizen may, at will,
use his property to the detriment OF
his fellows, or exercise his freedom of
contract to work them harm Equally
fundamental with the private right is
that of the public to regulate it in
the common interest"
That sounds like an excerpt from a
Roosevelt speech, but the court said
it last March.
Richberg Asks Liberalization.
What the New Deal thinks about
the Constitution was disclosed recently
in a speech privately delivered before
local club of attorneys by the New
Deal co-ordinator, Donald Richberg.
No record of the talk exists. A Con-
gresham tried to get a copy from
Mr. Richberg's Office and found the
remarks had not been officially set
down.
It would be accurate to say, how
ever, that Richberg wanted the pre-
amble of the Constitution and the
Declaration of independence ineor-
porated in that document in a judicial
way. He protested against narrow
legal interpretations. He wanted the
Government to move unrestrained by
legal technicalitieS to produce the
greater good for the greater number.
One line ran something like this:
"A government must fulfil the
obligation not only to protect its
citizens from fire, flood, pestilence,
domestic uiolence and foreign ag-
gression but also from economic
forces equally destructive and in
tolerdble."
Absurd rumors now are going
around, suggesting that President
Roosevelt would have appealed any
adverse gold decision to the higher
court of public opinion.
Statement Never Issued.
AS a matter of fact, one paragraph
of a statement which had been pre-
pared in advance, to be issued If the
gold decision went against him, read
as follows:
The right of the Supreme Court
to declare acts of Congress unconsti-
tutional is not found in the Constitu-
ton. But without this right, those
who make the laws would also pass
on them, so that nothing could ever
be found unconstitutional. Therefore,
it seems an inherent function of a
written constitution that somebody,
separate from the legal body, shall
have the right to review their acts" ="
In other words. the New Deal was
prepared in that statement, which now
may never be published, to uphold the
Supreme Court even if the court did
not uphold the New Deal.
Plan Carefully Drawn.
The White House has been very Sc
cretive about what it would have done
had the decision gone the other way.
1t makes no difference now, but five
hour program had been planned al
most minute by minute to Offset any
i'll effects of an adverse decision.
A flash statement would have been
issued at once. 1t contained two para
graphs and was addressed primarily
to the financial markets, assuring
them there was on cause for alarm.
An executive order was prepared and
accompanied by statement to the
press, as was also message to Con-
gress and the draft of a bill A time
schedule had been worked out so this
bill would have become law within
five hours after the decision was an
nounced.
Mr.. Roosevelt may some day include
these in his memoirs.