Evening star., 1935-06-28
ROOSEVELT'S GOLD.
PLAN HITS CITIZENS
Legislators Who Vote for 1t
Are Seen in EmbarraSS.
ina Position.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

IdIeSI HleSSdSc 1IOLu 1lco1OcIlI teoooS-
welt to Congress asking that citizens
be deprived of their right to go to
court to question the administrations
devaluation of the dollar.
Here is a sentence from the opinion
of the Supreme Court of the United
States on February 18 last, when it
declared that Congress had violated
the Constitution in repudiating the
gold clause in Government bonds:
while the Congress is under no
duty to provide remedies through the
courts, the contractual obligation still
exists, and, despite infirmities of pro-
cedure, remains binding upon the con-
science of the sovereign"
Mr.. Roosevelt in his message states
the legal truth when he says that
"there is no constitutional or inherent
right to sue the Government" and
that, on the contrary, "the immunity
of the sovereign from suit is prin-
ciple of universal acceptance and per-
mission to bring such suits is an act
of grace, which, with us, may be
granted or withheld by the Congress. ="
To withhold Privilege.
The administration has decided to
withhold the privilege. The Court of
Claims act is to be amended so that
suits arising out of the gold clause
long been foreshadowed. In fact, this
correspondent wrote a few days in
advance of the gold clause decisions
that the administration, if defeated,
would ask Congress to pass such an
amendment to the Court of Claims
act. But for reasons not revealed the
step was delayed.
It is assumed that the administra-
ton first believed it could win all
suits for claims But careful exam
ination of the gold clause decision in
dicated that while no loss could be
proved under present circumstances,
the contingency might arise where
holder of a gold clause bond might
prove to the courts satisfaction that
there was bona fide loss.
Thus, Robert Taft of Cincinnati, a
son of the former President, has a
suit pending now in which he con-
tends that the call Of the Govern
ment to force redemption of gold
clause bonds in advance of maturity
deprives him of privilege of holding
till maturity at the higher interest
rate, which the Government would
take from him by calling the bonds
in and substituting lower interest
rate.
Gold Value DiSregarded.
The legislation to be proposed as
consequence of the Presidents mes
sage provides for an exchange of gold
bonds for bonds with no gold clause
in them, but providing for the same
interest rate and the same maturity.
This avoids loss on interest. but the
question of gold value of the interest
is, of course, disregarded.
There is another type of litigation.
It relates to the rendering of gold
bonds in payment of Federal taxes.
There's a statute which says collec-
tors of internal revenue must accept
bonds or money at their par value in
payment of customs duties and the
like
But what is par? Fear that the
court might have to decide this ques-
ton and that citizen might be able
to show that he was being deprived Of
the full value of his bond in the gold
equivalent has led to a determination
to forbid all suits at the Court of
Claims arising out of the devaluation
policy.
1t is obvious that an administration
which feels justified in cutting the
gold content of the dollar in the first
place is not now concerned with the
criticism that will flow from the re-
fusal to permit suits in the Court of
Claims. Neither act is an evidence
of good conscience on the part of
the sovereign, but each is a step in
policy of expediency. Indeed, the
President has this curious remark to
make about the judiciary in general in
his message:
THE courts, it is hardly necessary
to add, will always be open to those
who seek justice, but they were not
established for use by few to enrich
themselves at the expense of the
many, nor to enable a few to harass
ano embarrass sovereign action by the
Government when taken for the bene-
1T of all"
Citizens Will Have No Redress.
The foregoing really means that the
executive branch Of the Government
hereafter is to decide how the courts
shall be used, what really is Justice"
and whether the Government will
permit thoee with whom it has con-
tracts for the payment of a public
debt Of nearly $4,000, 100000 ever to
sue in a court if the contracts are I'M
paired.
What it implies, of course, is that
If the Government sees fit, "for the
benefit of ALL or any other excuse
suitable to its whim, to repudiate pay
ment of the entire $4,000, 900, 900, or
any considerable part of it, the citizen
will have no redress. Just how long
people are going to continue to lend
their funds to a sovereign without a
conscience and how long it will take
them to realize that they cannot de-
pend on the word of their own Gov
ernment-or rather the administra-
ton which happens to be in power
is something which the people alone
can answer at the polls
The fact is, Mr.. Roosevelt has
created an issue of major importance
by his message to Congress asking
that the courts be open only to those
persons who. in the opinion of the
executive, have a just case on these
matters. and it will be simple mat
ter in the next campaign to point out
that the same administration which
denied an American citizen the
equivalent of the gold clause did agree
TO pay to the governments of Panama
and the Philippines $1.69 for every
dollar Of debt owed to them.
It is true that this is a matter of
treaty contract, but 1t Is strange that
foreigners can get observance of q
contract and American citizens can