Evening star., 1935-05-29

Believe it or not. annihilation of
N. R. A. by the Supreme Court and
correlated developments do not find
the New Deal in sackcloth and ashes.
Some of its spokesmen, on the con-
trary. profess emotions that are meant
to reflect positive relief and buoyant
confidence that President Roosevelt
can now proceed to work out recovery
plans with greater freedom than ever
because liberated from uncertainties
and perplexities that no longer har-
Yass him. At any rate, whether SIM
ulated or not. these are the rosy senti-
ments finding expression within the
administration circle. Outside OF It,
especially in opposition political quar-
ters. both Republican and Democratic.
there is a strong belief that the pres
tige of the New Deal and F. D. r.
has. in fact. suffered a severe blow and
that the repercussions will ramify
into next years presidential campaign
20 the Democrats disadvantage. That
the G. o. P will exploit the situation
and derive from it the maximum OF
political profit goes without saying
The Republican theory is that
tyranny is ended; that the "Roose-
welt revolution" has been condemned
and outlawed lock. stock and barrel,
srd that it will be difficult for the
Democratic party under the circum-
stances to resell the New Deal to the
country in a national election.
X X X
Talk of a constitutional amendment
to validate N. R. A. is encountered on
every hand as the most likely re-
course to which New Dealers will
turn to salvage what the Supreme
Court has left of their economic
philosophy. Recognizing that such a
process would be long drawn out, the
administration may resort in the
meantime to patchwork legislation.
Yet another suggested constitutional
amendment is one that would clip
the wings of the Supreme Court by
making it impossible for it to over
ride acts of Congress which become
law after presidential signature. This
proposal would resemble action taken
bv the British House of Commons to
curb the veto power of the House OF
Lords. The general thesis upon
which New Dealers are proceeding IN
these earliest hours of their tribula-
tions is that acknowledged gains
under N. r. A. must be preserved and
perpetuated: that the country wants
to keep them; that under no circum-
stances can there be a return to old
conditions: and that if the ConStitu-
ton. as interpreted by the Supreme
Court, does not permit the Nation to
proceed along corresponding lines,
the Constitution will simply have to
be amended.
Undoubtedly the New Deal high
command had its breath taken away
by the unanimity of the Supreme
Court in the N. r. A. case. While it
is now vociferated that certain ad-
ministrative and organic features OF
the recovery act were all along known
to be "indefensible" and probably in
capable of standing judicial review, 1t
was taken for granted that the su-
preme tribunal would be divided on
the basic concept of N. r. A., with a
liberal majority" fairly certain to
sustain it when the time came for an
acid test. Rooseveltians were cor
respondingly shocked and surprised to
find no liberal bloc of any dimensions
ready to validate N. r. A. New Deal
ers. too. have always been confident
that the emergency would be held by
the Supreme Court as ample just'fica-
,tion for NJ R. A. and associated in
novations. When the court pro-
claimed bluntly that extraordinary