Evening star., 1935-04-01
NEW n. R. A. BILL
ADRO|TLY PHRASED
Clever Devices Used in e.
fort to Avoid Adverse
Court Ruling.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE,

drawn piece OF legislation under the
New Deal.
1t embodies all the ideas of Donald
Richberg and all the devices that the
young lawyers of the administration
could put together in the hope of
preventing the Supreme Court from
declaring the proposal unconstitu-
tional.
Senator Harrison, chairman of the
Senate Finance Committee, has in
troduced the measure at the request
OF the administration and the veteran
Senator Borah Of Idaho has charac-
terized it as the most incoherent bill
he has examined In many a long year.
Court Rulings Needed.
Actually the bill takes into account
what the Federal Courts have been
saying lately In their numerous de-
cisions holding invalid various provi-
sions Of the national industrial re-
covery act, and 1t is particularly
noticeable that those who have
drafted the new bill read carefully
and meticulously what the Supreme
SoA4 VA OAiC S1hOCA obdtCS kIdo W nay
in the hot oil' cases on January
last about delegation Of congressional
power to the executive branch of the
Government.
The layman may regard the
changes in the new bill as technical
in the sense that they contain a lot
Of the same words that were in the
law before. But closer examination
will reveal that the words are not in
the same places and that a genuine
effort has been made to provide
standards" Of action upon which the
President or his agents may issue
their findings" the absence of which
was one of the things pointed out by
the 8 to 1 decision of the Supreme
Court in the Oil cases.
Standards Listed Carefully.
The careful enumeration of these
standards includes the statement that
the President may prescribe codes
when he finds that such action is
necessary and proper in the public
interest" and that such action. name
ly the imposition Of codes, does the
following things:
Il. Establishes rules Of fair COM
petition.
90. Promotes or maintains cooper
ative organization and action Of trade
and industrial groups.
g. Induces or maintains co-opera-
tive relations between, or cooperative
activities of, labor and management.
a. Promotes or maintains fair COM
petition.
IS. Prevents or eliminates competi-
tive practices which are unfair or de-
structive Of fair competition. or re-
strains upon trade which tend to
diminish the amount thereof contrary
to the public interest.
"6. Promotes the fullest effective
utilization of the productive and dis
tributive capacities of trade and in
dustry.
| Purchasing Power Cited.
"7. Prevents or eliminates restric-
tions upon production except those
hereinafter expressly sanctioned.
"8. Promotes or maintains increased
purchasing power and increased con-
sumption of industrial and agricul-
Gural products.
80. Reduces or relieves unemploy-
ment or regularizes employment.
10. Establishes proper minimum
wages and maximum hours of labor.
I'll. Improves the standards and
conditions of labor.
"12. Promotes the rehabilitation of
industry.
"13. Conserves natural resources
and prevents production or competi-
ton wasteful Of such resources and
injuries to commerce therein.
IA. Removes unreasonable burdens
upon, or protects the reasonable flow
of, interstate or foreign commerce"
Now, obviously, the foregoing IA
standards cover every possible con-
tingency, but the mere cataloguing
of them in a statute doesn't mean
that Congress either possesses power
the power originally, that it can dele
broad policies to the executive agen-
cies Of the Government.
Commerce Paragraphs CIouded.
The paragraphs which attempt to
define commerce are not so clear,
though they are adroitly phrased.
Thus the bill says no trade or indus
try or subdivision thereof Is eligible
for q code" unless the character Of
volume Of its employment or sales or
shipment or use of goods shipped in
| interstate or foreign commerce Is such
| as to affect the "instrumentalities Of
interstate or foreign commerce" or to
affect "the movement of goods or
services in interstate or foreign COM
merce"
There is some added language that
the President by reason Of other con-
ditions" which he may find to exist,
but which are not specified, may sum-
marily include businesses and indus
try within his code-making powers If
they 80 substantially affect" inter-
state or foreign commerce that the
establishment of standards of fair
competition in such trade or industry
or subdivision thereof Is necessary and
proper for the protection or regulation
of interstate or foreign commerce"
Distinction in Codes.
Hence, while the New Deal lawyers
may think they have disposed of the
problem of delegating congressional
power, they have not clearly defined
what Is or Is not interstate commerce,
though this Is something which, ac-
cording to recent decisions, the courts
say is matter on which Congress
has no right to do any defining or
enumerating anyway but is reserved
to the judiciary.
The new bill draws a distinction
between voluntary and limited"
codes. In the latter the President
may impose code prohibiting certain
specific things stated in the proposed
law itself. These include prohibition
OF child labor and of ANY unfair busi-
ness practice which is generally recog-
nized as being dishonest, fraudulent,
or otherwise unfair" as well as such
provisions as he finds necessary to
prevent unfair or oppressive condi-
hens to lay more eggs and the