The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-02-01

the United States
Although that distinguished body of
nine men holds in its hands power CO.
equal TO that Of the President and of
congress, some way It has never been
a part Of the government to which at
tentlon has been directed nationally.
or course, there are more people who
are not lawyers than who are familiar
with laws and that may be the answer
to the fact that the Supreme court can
be said to be little known.
But II seems now that the court Is
to be a center of attraction Just as
interesting as either the executive or
legislative branches. The reason Is
that the highest legal tribunal in the
Of the most momentous legal contro-
versies to engage the country since the
days of the Civil war. Through many
months, questions concerning the New
Deal, their legality and constitution
atty, have been vending their slow,
through the courts Of appeals to the
court of last resort under the structure
which we know as our government.
One Of these, as reported to you
previously, has already been decided
In that instance, the Supreme court by
vote Of eight of the nine judges de-
termlned that President Roosevelt had
gone beyond the powers accorded him
under the Constitution In prohibiting
export of oil from the state where 1t
was recovered.
Within very short time now the
most important case Of all affecting
the New Deal will be decided. refer
to the so-called gold cases. Five ques-
lions are before the court and If 1t
decides adversely to the governments
claim on any OF them, the monetary
policy upon which the New Deal has
beeen operating becomes virtually null
and void. The court heard lengthy
arguments by high powered lawyers
on the part of the government and on
the part Of private citizens who claim
that their rights have been abridged
by the Roosevelt money policies and
they naturally are seeking redress.
No one dares to make a prediction
concerning pending action by the Su-
preme court. 1t can be only guess
at any time in advance of rule by
that group of men because with one or
two exceptions since the nation was
founded, its decisions have never
leaked out ahead of the time they are
formally handed down from the bench.
Lawyers throughout the land are
watching and waiting for the courts
findings. But the most fidgety Of all
lawyers are those In the government
who recognize that an adverse decision
by the court will flatten out the New
Deal and force wholesale revision of
policies. / am told that this group of
lawyers Is none too certain of its
ground. True, they made what Is rec
ognized as strong argument in sup
port of the governments position but
the difficulty seems to be from their
standpoint that the Constitution was
written before the brain trust came
into action and the Constitution itself
provides the only ways by which 1t
may be changed. Brain trust ideas,
however good they may be, necessarily
are worthless and useless If they con-
travene the basic provisions of the
Constitution to which the nation ad-
heres.
Among the questions before the Su-
preme court In the gold cases, that
one brought forward
important by suit to com
Question pei the government
to pay gold in re-
deeming one Of its own bonds is by far
the most important. Indeed, that case
can be said to have an overwhelming
Importance. If the court rules that
the government cannot void It's con-
tract-for a bond Is generally recog-
niZed as cOntract-tO pay back the
borrowed money under the term named
in that bond, then the seizure of gold
by the government in 1888 like
wise is voided. In other words,
every person holding a government
bond containing a promise to pay in
gold is entitled to have that gold
from the treasury. 1t takes no stretch
of the Imagination to see what effect
that will have on the whole money
program.
Likewise, If the court determines
that an individual who has promised
to pay In gold must observe the terms
of that agreement, the administration
is again in a hole. Since contracts,
agreements or bonds containing the
promise to pay in gold are in general
use and have been written since time
immemorial the amount of such pay
ments is virtually incalculable. | have
heard many estimates of the total
amount of money involved by the So
called gold clause but hesitate to
use any of them because it is patent
on the face of things that an accurate
figure is impossible.
One can get down to brass tacks on
the effect of affirmation of the gold
clause, however, by the simple appli-
II