The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1935-12-26
THE GREAT
GAME OF
POLITICS
By FRANK r. KENT,
By FRANK r. KENT,
Copyright by the Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by
special permission.
The Federal Bully

Inc 4 eOerdl Bully
| Washington, December %.
| That this Administration uses the
immense power it has acquired in the
name of Emergency to coerce and in
timidate those who oppose its plans or
who stand up for what they believe
their rights is a serious charge. In
variably it is met with indignant de-
NAL. The official spokesman lash
themselves into a rage, call names,
beat their breasts, proclaim the purity
| of their hearts.
| Nevertheless there is truth in the
charges. The Administrator does do
these things-and does them with cal
culated deliberation. Under the New
Deal the Government of the United
States has become an intolerable bully
and is resorting to methods in it's deal
ings with private citizens unpreceden-
ted in our history and impossible to
reconcile with an elemental conception
of fairness or any standard of public
or personal ethics.
| AK
An example is furnished by the new
clause which an Administration meas
ure has forced into Government con-
tracts since the last session of Con-
| gress. Here it is:
| 49,
"In accordance with the provisions
of Section lab of the Bituminous Coal
Conservation Act of 1885, the contrac-
tor agrees that he will buy no bitumi-
nous coal to use on or in the carrying
out of this contract from any producer,
except such producer be a member of
the Bituminous Coal Code, set out in
accordance with Section 4 of said act,
as certified by the National Bitumi-
nous Coal Commission"
| *-*-*
i The plain purpose of this is to club
the coal companies into acceptance of
the Guffey Coal Control Act. Either
they fall into line or they lose business,
have their best customers cut off from
them and are marked as ''unfriendly."
1t is as clear a case of correction as could
be had. 1t is undisguised government
tai boycott. The companies which have
not Joined the code are entirely within
their rights. There is, under the law,
no compulsion to sign up. The act pro-
vides tax of Is cents ton on all coal
mined. Members of the code later get
back ninety percent of this tax, which
reduces it to 112 cents a ton for them,
while those who do not become mem
bers get no drawback and pay the full
Is cents. Thus penalty of 1872 cents
is imposed upon those who are not
good boys.
Now, all the companies regard the
law as injurious and unconstitutional.
Some, for reasons of expediency, de-
termined not to risk having to pay
the full penalty; others, convinced that
the courts will kill the bill, decided not
to submit to what they consider its
outrageous and damaging provisions.
There is no question that these COM
panies have the legal right to stay out.
There is not the slightest compulsion
! to come in. If the law is sustained by
the courts, those who stayed out will
certainly have to pay the full 15-cent
tax. But that is the chance they take.
They are doing it with their eyes open
and think it worth the risk.
$50
What they seem not to have realized
is that the Administration in an in
conspicuous section of the act equipped
itself with a weapon to savagely
strike at them, not for violating the
law, because with that they are COM
plying, but for not "going along" with
it, for having the courage to express
dissent, for following the advice of
counsel and declining voluntarily to
accept the principles of a questionable
act until they have been judicially con-
strued. The clause with which the
Government strikes separates the dis
senting coal companies from their
customers. 1t makes them afraid to
deal with each other. 1t creates fear
as to what will happen next. Whether
the coal companies are good or bad;
whether the Guffey act is fair or not,
such use of power is abuse Of power.
1t is inconsistent with a democratic
form of government, and repugnant to
free people. 1t lends support to the
feeling that if the Government is no.
to grow into something of which We
all stand in fear, the present tendency
has got to be checked-and checked
hard. What is being done to the coal
companies can be done to any business
firm or individual. 1t just happens to
be coal this time.