Evening star., 1935-02-24
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
RESIDENT RooSEvELTS rec

ommendation that part Of N.
r. A. be renewed for two more
year is likely to be adopted
by Congress, but the action
will not be for more than two years.
And even though the renewal be for
two years, Congress will take away
much that is now in the act. It is
further possible that some part Of
N. r. A., q comparatively slight part,
may become permanent. AS to most
of N. r. A., however, the common
Judgment of Washington is that a
strong tide is running against it, that
some conditions have arisen which are
taking the heart out Of it. and that
these conditions are likely to go far
ther.
In this article I conf1ne myself to
only one of the several influences
working powerfully against N. r. A.
To understand this factor, 1t is neces-
sary to bear in mind that Congress
cannot, under the Constitution, regu-
late business that is done wholly inside
the boundaries Of one State. 1t can
only regulate business that Is done
across State lines. AS lawyers and
Legislatures put it, Congress can only
regulate interstate" business; Con-
gress cannot regulate "intrastate" bus
iness.
The power OF Congress In this re-
spect Is in the following words, Article
!, Section 8, of the Constitution: THE
Congress shall have power TO regulate
.or,r,arca NTH faroicya oattnnw and
among the several States"
Doubt About Commerce"
There is a question, which I do not
cover here, about the word com
merce," a question whether the word
commerce" includes manufacturing.
But in the present article am only
discussing the fact that Congress can
only regulate business among the
States" and cannot regulate business
done wholly inside the boundaries OF
any one State.
What I am about to say on this
point is, I think, important, and
should interest many. For many small
business men whose business Is wholly
local, wholly within one State. have
been under the impression that N. r.
A. could crack down" on them. Act
ually N. r. A. has cracked down on
many Of them. The small business
men have submitted because they were
unfamiliar with the law, and also
because small business men have not
the resources to fight N r. A., or fight
the Government Of the United States
as that Government is now admins
tered. To many small business men,
the mere cost Of q trip to Washing
ton is a considerable item. to say moth
ing of taking witnesses and employing
a lawyer. Such business men, N. r
A. has been able to intimidate, In
many cases. I think it is fair to say
that intimidation, what Mr.. Walter
Lippmann calls punitive and terror
istic attacks on private business" is an
essential feature not only Of N. r. A.
but OF the New Deal as a whole.
Knew Congress Limits.
In the beginning the New Deal
lawyers, who in part wrote the orig
inal N. r. A. statute. knew as well
rs any one else that Congress cannot
regulate business done wholly within
q State. They knew also. however,
that they could not make N. r. A.
last unless 1t could cover both kinds
of business. II business done across
State lines is subject to N. r. A.
restrictions, while small local busi-
ness is not, 1t Is difhcult or impossible
to make N. r. A. stick. This condi-
ton existed in the beginning and it
exists now. Because it exists, and
because small "intrastate" business is
becoming aware Of its immunity, Is
one Of the reasons why many think
that N. r. A. Is on its way out.
In the beginning those who wrote
the N. r. A. statute tried to overcome
this handicap by ingenious language.
They wrote into the law such phrases
as 'any transaction in or affecting
interstate commerce. This was on
the theory. presume. that they could
argue before the courts that 'intra-
state business affects Interstate
business. The courts, however, have
not fallen for" this ingenuity. The
courts, indeed, have been pretty rough
with N. r. A. altogether. Much
rougher than the public knows, for
the N. r. A. publicity organization
has given out many accounts Of law
suits N. r. A. has won, but have not
observed them giving out any &C
counts of cases in which the courts
have Indignantly rejected suits at
tempted by N. r. A., and vigorously
Jumped on" N. r. A. lawyers.
Presently N. r. A. realized it could
not control business done wholly
within a State. Thereupon, some new
tactics were adopted. one of which
succeeded for a short distance, but
now seems collapsing. This was the
effort to have the States enact Local
duplicates of N. r. A.
Urged State Statutes.
Gen. johnson, when he was still
head of N. r. A., started campaign
to get all the States to enact baby
N. r. A. statutes. The plan was that
each State Legislature should enact a
duplicate Of the national N. r. A
statute that Congress had adopted
The two statutes combined would
catch all business. The national
N. r. A. would catch businesses that
cross State lines; the baby N. r. AS
| would catch the local businesses that
are conducted inside the boundaries
of each State.
Gen. Johnson's campaign. begun
in those days of the early fine ferver
of N. r. A. and the evangelical pub
hcity about the Blue Eagle. succeeded
in persuading IA States out Of the 4s
to adopt baby N. r. AS. The IA were
California, Colorado, Illinois, New
Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio
South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Wash
ington, West Virginia. Wisconsin
Wyoming.
BY the time these II had adopted
baby N. r. AS the blue eagle had be-
gun to lose glamour; the momentum
.%opnad Cnpoa "A TaoieIo tiirns