Evening star., 1935-06-06
The Political Mill
By G.. Could Lincoln.

| issue for the 1896 campaign with his
/ horse and buggy comment on the
Supreme Courts killing OF the N. r.
A.? 1t looked, Tor a time immedi-
ately after the Presidents pronounce
ment. as though lie proposed to go
right to battle for an extension of
| the power of the Federal Government
over hours and wages of labor and
business practices, not to mention
the farmers and their crops. Now
there are two schools of thought on
this subject. One says he Is. The
other says he is not. The first group
insist that the President, in continu-
ing the N. r. 4. as a fact-hnding
agency, is providing great prOpa-
ganda mill. This will come in handy
in the campaign, they say, TO obtain
added powers for the Federal Gov
ernment.
The second group maintains. on
the other hand, that the Presidents
address to the newspaper correspond
entS when he first discussed the
Supreme Courts decision, was much
| miSinterpreted. They contend that
there are no prospects Of campaign
for a constitutional amendment, and
that the President really never had
such an idea in mind. This group
contains lot Of influential Southern
Democrats in Congress. They don't
| like either the idea of a constitutional
amendment or the suggestion of
campaign along such lines. However,
which looked with aversion on the
proposal in 1882 10 write into the
Democratic national platform a plank
demanding a constitutional amend
/ ment to give the people back their
/ liquor, through State control Of that
traffic. What happened at that con-
yentlon is a matter of history.
There is a great deal Of mystery
about what the President plans. He
has been asked at his last two press
conferences whether he will favor
constitutional amendment which would
give Congress authority TO deal with
such matters as hours and wages Of
labor, business practices, etc, or per-
haps an amendment which would
deny to the Supreme Court the right
to declare any act of Congress uncon-
StitutOnal. He has not answered the
question on either occasion, The idea
is growing up that he is waiting for
a demand from the country that some
such amendment be proposed. At any
rate, he is in position TO Jump either
way. II the demand comes for this
rF 80
the Federal Government he can lead
the drive If ii does not, he can go
right ahead with his efforts TO bring
the New Deal acts within the limits
set by the Supreme Court.
The comment around the country
on the Presidents criticism of the Su-
preme Court decision has not been
as favorable as the New Dealers
wished. It looks, from their point of
view. AS though a campaign OF edu-
cation were necessary. In fact. the
President said very distinctly in his
first statement on the X r. A de-
clSion that the country did not un-
derStand its implications, He urged
a. that time that the newspapers and
other agencies of communication give
the people a clear understanding of
what the Supreme Court had been
doing TO them. The N. R. A., as a
ct-fnding agency, is likely to be in
a position to feed the people a good
deal Of data. II will be able to show
whether the wages Of labor have gone
down and the hours of individual en-
ployment have been heightened. for
example. 1t will be in a position to
show up unfair business practices,
sWeatshop operations and return TO
child labor. if busineS, and industry
perform along those lines. And even
if the percentage of industry which
goes to such practices is very small a
great deal of noise can be made
about it.
The President was so explicit re-
garding the issue raised by the Su-
preme Court decLsion-an issue which
he said would have to be settled by the
people-that the interpretations placed
on his statement by $50 Washington
correspondents we're pretty much the
same. Whether it was trial balloon
or whether it is TO be followed by an
effort 10 broaden the constitutional
powers Of the Congress remains to be
seen.
1t was in that in his statement to
the press that the President cast doubt
on the constltutionality of the A A A.
under the terms of the Supreme
Courts decision He went so far as
to say that it might mean a return OF
Scent cotton and 36-cent wheat
throwing a scare into the farmers and
the commodity markets. The imphca-
ton was that the A. A. A. could not
be made to work without a constitu-
tional amendment But now the
; President is going along with the
amendments proposed in Congress to
make the A. A. A. constitutional
, With these amendments. the Secre-
tary Of Agriculture insists. the act will
be entirely within the Constitution
even in the light of the Supreme
Courts decision. 1t will be possible
; to go ahead paying the farmers for
not growing crops. and TO levy proc
essing taxes to obtain the money
needed for such payments. it is main
tanned. However, the New Dealers
: have weather eye out for trouble
Among the proposed amendments are
two which seek TO safeguard the Gov
ernment if the court should object 10
the processing tax arrangements. One
provides that the Government shall
not be liable to suit for recovery OF
any part of the $500, 900 900 collected
by the Government in processing taxes
: under the present act. if that act
should be found unconstitutional by
the court The other calls for direct
and automatic fixing of the process
taxes by Congress if the court should
hold that Congress has exceeded its
authority to delegate power to the
Secretary Of Agriculture to fix these
taxes.
1t now remains to be seen whether
the grass roots" Republican confer
ence in Springfield next Monday and
Tuesday is to be turned into a
horse and buggy" convention. There