Evening star., 1935-07-08
1886 ISSUE SEEN
|NNOTE0N COAL
RooSeveIt's Letter to Hill
Ignores Unanimous Deci-
sions of Court.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

The constitution, ana members OF con-
gress, taking an oath to support the
same Constitution, have q sright. in
the face of clear and unmistakable
decisions Of the Supreme Court Of the
United States, to continue to foist
upon the people laws that are plainly
unconstitutional.
Mr.. Roosevelt's own legal officers
the Department of Justice-have re-
fused to say publicly that the Guffey
coal bill is constitutional The Presi-
dent himself comedies that there are
doubts in his mind, but insists that
the legislation should be passed and
that the Supreme Court take the re-
sponsibility for declaring q law in
valid.
Radical Departure.
This is such a radical departure
from the accepted understanding OF
the duty of q President of the United
States throughout American history
that 1t will, for generations to come,
be in itself regarded as q precedent.
Hitherto Presidents have signed bills
or Congresses have overridden presi-
Dental vetoes when there were really
some doubts on constitutional grounds
and when there had been no clear
cut decisions on which to base q judg-
ment in advance OF court determine
ton.
But in the present instance, all one
has to do Is to read the Stool deci-
sion in the famous child labor case
and substitute the word coal" for the
products Of child labor" and there
can be no doubt what the Supreme
Court would say in appraising the
Guffey bill.
To help the reader understand the
issue in the Guffey bill-for it is
something any layman can grasp,
whether he knows anything about law
or precedents-al that need be known
IS that the proposal undertakes to
levy a rs per cent tax on any coal
company which refuses to accept a
code governing wages, hours and
working conditions. The companies
that comply get the tax rebated. The
companies that refuse must pay the
tax. The rs per cent tax is, of course.
ruinous and would put out of busi-
ness coal companies that refused to
accept the code.
Coercion Attempt Blocked.
This form Of Government coercion
or attempt to use the taxing power
10 achieve q social objective was re-
pudiated by an almost unanimous
Supreme Court opinion, written by
Chief Justice Taft, which said:
In the light Of these features of
the act, a court must be blind not
to see that the so-called tax is i'm
posed to stop the employment of
children within age limits prescribed.
Its prohibitory and regulatory effect
and purpose are palpable. All others
can see and understand this. How
can we properly shut our minds to it.?
1t Is the high duty and function
OF this court in cases regularly brought
to its bar to decline to recognize or
enforce seeming laws of Congress deal
Ing with subjects not intrusted to
Congress, but left or committed by the
supreme law OF the land to the control
OF the States. We cannot avoid the
DUTY. even though it requires us to
refuse to give effect to legislation de-
signed to promote the highest good.
Court Cites Harm.
"The good sought in unconstitu-
tional legislation Is an insidious fea-
ture because it leads citizens and leg
islators Of good purpose to promote
1t without thought Of the serious
breach it will make in the ark of our
covenant or the harm which will come
from breaking down recognized stand
ards. In the maintenance of local
self government, on the one hand. and
the national power. on the other, our
country has been able to endure and
prosper for nearly . century and q
half.
Grant the validity of this law, and
all that Congress would need to do
hereafter, in seeking to take over to
It's control any one of the great num-
Der OF subjects of public interest, juris-
diction of which the States have
never parted with and which are re-
served to them by the tenth amend
ment. would be to enact q detailed
measure Of complete regulation of
the subject and enforce it by a So
called tax upon departures from it.
To give such magic to the word tax
would be to break down all constitu-
tional limitation of the powers of
Congress and completely wipe out the
sovereignty Of the States"
And that's precisely what the Guf-
fey bill, if enacted into law, would do
give to the Federal Government,
under the guise Of a taxing power,
the right to regulate production con-
ditions in an industry which again
and again has been declared to be
wholly within the right of the States.
Ignores Court Decision.
The President, in his letter to Rep
resentative Hill, chairman of the sub
committee Of the House Ways and
Means Committee. ignores entirely
the unanimous decision of the Su-
preme Court Of the United States in
the Schechter case when he says:
Admitting that mining coal, con-
sidered separately and apart from its
distribution and the flow of interstate
commerce, is an intra-State transac-
ton, the constitutionaiity Of the pro-
vision, based on the commerce clause
of the Constitution, depends upon the
final conclusion as to whether pro-
duction conditions directly affect, pro-
mote or obstruct interstate commerce
in the commodity.
"Manifestly no one is in position
to give assurance that the proposed
act will Withstand constitutional tests,
for the simple fact that you can get
not 10, but o thousand differing legal
opinions on the subject"
But If Mr. Roosevelt asked any
group of competent lawyers who had
no interest in either side of the coal
controversy he would not get any di-
vided view. He would get q unani-
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