Evening star., 1935-05-17
FIVE MAJOR BILLS
EXPECTED TOPASS
Greatest Reform Congress
in History Predicted for
.
Present Session.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


Group pressure plus administration
support probably will enact into law
within the next 80 or go days the
following pieces of far-reaching leg
islation:
1. The Wagner labor bill, giving
labor unions exclusive bargaining
power whenever they are in the ma
jority and thus forcing what amounts
to closed shop in industry.
g. A banking bill authorizing the
Federal Government to control credit
and the issuance of money and the
forcing of Government loans upon
banks.
8. A utility regulation bill destroy
ing holding company structures and
putting the Federal Government def
nitely in control of the electric light
and power industry.
Tighter N. r. A. Law Forecast.
A. New legislation empowering the
Department of Agriculture to assume
licensing control of food and process
ing industries and to force marketing
agreements upon distributors of farm
products.
S. Enlargement Of the national in
dustrial recovery act to tighten gov
ernmental control over basic indus
tries and businesses that are deemed
to affect" interstate commerce
The labor groups have forced the
Senate to pass the Wagner bill and,
as for the House, where the measure
is called the Connery bill, there re-
mains only to straighten out the diff
ferences that exist as to the admins
trative agency to operate the law,
whether it shall be the Department
of Labor or a National Labor Board
This will be finally decided by the
President and the bill will become law
The farm groups are being lined up
to support the A. A. A. amendments
and, since the administration by its
vast machinery can control farm
groups, the legislation may be consid-
cred as virtually assured of passage.
Business Down to Defeat.
With farm and labor groups mus
tered behind administration measures,
the business groups have suffered a
severe defeat at almost every turn.
They have relied on the administration
to represent the broad public interest
as against class legislation and have
not been as militant or aggressive in
their opposition and, with one or two
exceptions, the business groups have
not tried to line up votes back home
by a public campaign.
Business men here and there have
expressed themselves by public
speeches or resolutions such as the
Chamber Of Commerce adopted, but
they have not organized any pressure
group by votes in the home precincts
such as the American Federation of
Labor and American Legion have
mobilized for legislative purposes
The consequence is that the Federal
courts will have an avalanche of law
suits testing the constitutionality of
the various measures. If the Supreme
Court takes the view Of Federal power
1t did In the railroad pension case,
then most of the legislation being
passed will strike some snag in the
judicial process. But, meanwhile, as
in the case Of N r. A.. the Federal
control viii be so intertwined In the
operations of business that an un-
scrambling process will be difficult.
Great Uncertainty Predicted.
The prospects are for a period of
great uncertainty for the next two
years as a result of the legislation
being passed by the present Congress,
which probably will go down in his
tory-or up as the case may be-
because of having passed more legis-
lation of so-called reform character
affecting the operations of business
and industry than any other single
session of Congress from the begin
ming Of the Republic.
Out of this session will come issues
for 1886 and 1888 and political
campaigns for many years to come,
for the changes being made are fun
damental. Only handful of mem
bers of Congress at present are aware
of these implications, or, rather are
disturbed by them. Most members
realize the extent of the transfcrma-
ton involved, but as long as the
masses seem to be going along with
the Roosevelt point of view, they are
timid about expressing or voting their
own convictions. This Congress
records the biggest triumph that pres
sure groups have ever achieved.
Copyright. 19351