The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-06-13

Farm Credit Administration, In the
spirit and letter Of its intent. Yet be-
cause 1t was fundamentally unsound
it never could succeed. My own guess
is that the Supreme court by its ruling
in this case has rendered great serv-
Ice to American agriculture.
Simmered down, the law which was
proposed by Senator Frazier and Rep
resentative Lemke, both of North Da-
kota, was designed to give purely
temporary aid to distressed owners OF
mortgage farm lands. The things
which apparently neither Of the CO.
authors foresaw was the effect the
temporary arrangement would have as
to the future. By this / mean that,
for example, If farmer wants to buy
a home and had only a small amount
of cash, he must borrow money from
someone else. If the holder OF that
money were made to feel that at any
time during the life of that mortgage
congress could pass law telling the
lender he could not force payment of
the debt few there would be who would
be willing to lend their money. 1t is
not human nature to lend money UNI
less there is a reasonable assurance
that it will be repaid.
Thus, 1t seems to me the Frazier
Lemke law contained elements OF
danger that were overlooked In the
stress of depressed conditions. AS
laws now stand, lenders of capital will
have some assurance that the security
they take will continue to be security
and that the individual who borrows,
whether he be the owner of farm or
the owner of business in town, either
will make payments on the principal
or surrender the property.
Perhaps the worst blow dealt Pres
ident Roosevelt personally was the Su-
preme court decision
The Worst which held that the
RJo,y Presidential power
did not extend to re-
moval of a Federal Trade Commission
member except for the reasons pre-
scribed in the law itself. 1t will be re-
membered that Mr.. Roosevelt fOrcibly
ousted the late William e. Humphrey
from commission membership because,
it was openly stated at the time, Mr..
Humphrey was conservative repuD-
lican and he, therefore, did not see eye
to eye with the President and his New
Deal plans. Mr. Humphrey sued the
government for the salary for his term.
After his death his executors carried
on the litigation which has just now
been decided in their favor.
It is the principle involved here that
is important The Federal Trade Com
mission was set up as quasi-Jud1clal
body, one endowed with powers to reg
ulate against improper business prac-
tees and to determine the propriety
of general business dealings where
those dealings affected countrywide
business or the interests of the public.
1t takes no stretch of the magma
ton to see how Presidential interfer-
ence with the commission personnel
would result in changes of commission
policy. One business practice might
be held proper by a commission whose
majority was conservative while that
same practice would be considered IL
legal by commission dominated by a
liberal or radical membership. 1t be-
comes obvious then that if the Presi-
dent were permitted to disturb the
personnel of the commission, especially
Judges. there could be no continuity
of policy and business itself would
hardly know from day to day when 1t
was abiding by the law or when 1t was
not.
Several months ago, recall, I re-
ported to you in these columns some
thing in the nature
AAA Comes of prediction that
Nerf the Supreme court
would become better
known to the general public before the
current Administration had ended than
IL had been known since 1t rendered
the famous bred Scott decision In civil
war days. 1t was a perfectly obvious
circumstance. Sooner or later the
questions of a constitutional nature in
volved In the New Deal procedure OBJ
viously were going to be tested In
court, Equally obvious was the fact
that neither the government nor the
private litigants concerned were going
TO be satisfied with any decision short
of the court of last resort.
Now, l feel warranted in reporting
that the highest court again will be
in the public eye. The next momen-
tous decision likely to come from the
bench Of the nine austere justices will
be-a ruling affecting the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration and there
fore of vital import to the American
farmer. There will be other cases in
volving New Deal plans, of course, but
their Importance cannot possibly be as
great as any decision affecting the
AAA, because it is an integral part OF
the New Deal program for recovery.
There is no possibility Of ruling on
any AAA questions before next Oc-
tober. No test cases have yet reached
the Supreme court for argument but
there are half dozen vending their
slow way through minor courts. Con-
sideration by the Supreme court even
tually is, of course, certain because
they involve constitutional questions.
Notwithstanding the fact that SUI
preme court decision on the AAA is con-
siderably distant, it is to be noted that
after the NRA was outlawed, there
was considerable scurrying around
among AAA officials. Fresh considera-
ton was given to many points of law
over which there is doubt. Amend
ments which the AAA have asked
nonorass Tn enact tn strengthen the