Evening star., 1935-11-08
RULE OF INDUSTRY
BY TREATY POWER.
WEIGHED BY n. R. Al
Lawyers Study Pacts as
Transcending U. S.
Constitution.
SUPREME LAW OF LAND
WORDING IN BASIC ACT
Employment, Child Labor and
Other Subjects Dealt With
in Conventions.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated PreSs.
The possibility of using the Federal
Governments treaty-making power as
the basis for future regulation OF in
dustry is being studied by group
of N. r. A. lawyers.
They have been directed to explore
every possible constitutional authority
on which new N. R. A. legislation
might be based if the Government
should again wish to experiment with
something of that kind.
Canvassing the situation. the law
yers have become interested IN the
broad treaty-making power granted
the Federal Government by the Con-
stitution. That document provides
that treaties shall be 1.-The supreme
law CT the land, anything in
the Constitution or laws Of any State
to the contrary Notwithstanding"
This clause of the Constitution
reads:
This Constitution and the laws OF
the United States which shall be made
in pursuance thereof and all treaties
made, or which shall be made, under
the authority of the United States.
shall be the supreme law Of the land.
and the Judges in every State shall be
bound thereby, anything in the Con-
stitution or laws of any State to the
contrary Notwithstanding"
Following through with that idea,
the lawyers also are studying the con-
ventions. or treaties originating with
the international labor organization
at Geneva, to which the United States
belongs.
Wide Range Of Subjects.
Although most of these conventions
were negotiated before the United
States Joined in 1884. and have not
been ratified by this Government, they
deal with such subjects as hours OF
industrial employment, child labor.
night work. minimum wages and
other conditions of employment.
What the lawyers are studying Is
whether II the United States ratified
such q convention, or a treaty with
a single nation governing working
hours in industry or some other con-
dition of employment, the treaty
would stand up as the supreme law
of the land"
Other constitutional provisions being
exhaustively studied by the N. r. A.
LAWYERS involve the Federal Govern
ment's Jurisdiction over interstate
commerce, taxes and appropriations,
post Offices, Government contracts,
tariff rates and war emergencies.
The old N. r. A. was based largely
on the interstate commerce clause. but
the other powers have been used in
various regulatory laws in the past.
The Guffey coal bill and the social
security bill are based largely on the
Governments taxing and spenolng
powers; control of the post offices has
been used to prevent fraud; several
proposals are now pending in Congress
for substitute N. r. A. legislation based
on jurisdiction over those who contract
with the Government.
Exploring Possibilities.
L. C. Marshall, director of the N. r.
A. Review Division, under whom the
lawyers are working, said his staff was
not drafting new N. r. A. legislation,
nor trying to formulate what ought
to be done"
He said it was merely exploring the
possibilities and assembling material
that would be useful if we should get
to the stage where some kind of legis-
lation was wanted" If the next ses-
sion of Congress should want material
on which to base legislation regulating
one industry or all industries, 1t will
be ready, he explained.
One man, Marshall said, has been
assigned to assemble and study the
proposals that have been made for
future legislation. Correspondence
and material on these suggestions fill
five filing cases, he said.