The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-12-17
Washington
Merry-Go-
Round
BY DREW PEARSON and
ROBERT s. ALLEN.

.uTASHINGTON, Dec. 17.-Most
w of the New Dealers are not
prone to spend their week-ends in
bibulous revelry. Nevertheless, that
old pre-prohibition term, Blue
Monday" connotation of headaches
and hangovers, has come to be a
real state of mind with them.
Reason is the Supreme Court plus
the fact that Monday is the day on
which the Nine Old Men hand down
their decisions.
In four decisions pulled out Of the
Supreme Court grab-bag last week,
the New Dealers drew blank every
time.
And it is beginning to get on New
Deal nerves.
What is getting on their nerves
even more is the fact that the ma
iority of the court appears to have
gone out of its way to crack down
on the Administration whenever
possible, and to muddy up the issue,
when not possible.
This makes it look extremely bad
for such major issues as the AAA,
the Wagner Labor Disputes Act,
the Guffey Law and the Holding
Corporation Act.
WHAT happened last week was
w this: When the anti-Admin-
istration ma jority on the court was
not able to throw out completely
the law which was at stake, they
side-stepped a clear-cut declaration
on the main issue and confined
themselves to technicalities. AT
least, that is the opinion of New
Dealers.
But when they were able to throw
out the law in toto, they did so
with gusto and vengeance.
Take, for instance, the Hastings
case. This involved the Federal
Warehousing Act by which the gov
eminent stores cotton and other
staple crops, issuing receipts to
farmers on which they borrow
money.
The act had been in effect for 10
years. To have thrown il out as
unconstitutional would have thrown
into chaos the entire economic
structure of the South.
Mister Dooley may or may not
have been right when he said that
the Supreme Court follows the cleo
tions. But no court could have de-
.cIared the Federal Warehousing
Act unconstitutional without caus-
ing violent political repe~cussions
throughout the nation.
Whether the court considered
these factors is known only to the
Nine Old Men. What is known, i
however, is that they lodged the
Issue of interstate commerce
which they once took up in the
Schechter sick chicken NRA case
and decided against the government
on a technical point.
II Il
THE same virtually was true in
n the test of the Home Owners
Loan Act.
This is an extremely important
law. Under it thousands of mort
cages have been issued by the gov
eminent, thousands of homes have
been saved There were many of
these broad points upon which the
court might have outlined policy.
But it confined itself to the very
narrow question of whether state
chartered building and loan asso-
Citations could be required to take
out Federal licenses, and declared
against the government.
In the two other decisions last
week, the Supreme Court was not
SO subtle. 1t waded into the laws
involved with bare fists.
RDINARILY the Supreme
" Court undergoes a change in
personnel every two years or so.
And New Dealers make no secret
that that is what they pray for
most devoutly. y
But times have changed. A rug
ged determination to remain and
fight the battle of the Constitution
seems to be uppermost in the minds
of the Nine Old Men.
A Supreme Court Justice may re-
tire after a certain period of service
and his $4,000 salary continues for
life.
During Hoover's Administration
two justices dropped out.
But the New Deal has seen no
such vacancies. Roosevelt has had
candidates ready and waiting-but
with no place to put them.
All of the anti-New Deal bloc
save Justice Roberts, have reached
the retiring age. Chief Justice
Hughes is 70. So also are Justices
McReynolds and Sutherland.
But they have told some of their
friends that they expect to continue
on the court for the express purpose
of checking New Deal legislation.
So it looks as if the Administra-
ton was in for long game of legal
waiting.
(Copyright. 1885, by United Feature
Syndicate Inc)