Evening star., 1935-04-26
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Now it's a baby" N. R. A. that has
been declared unconstitutional. A
former Republican member of the
House of Representatives. County
Judge Homer w. Hall. at Blooming
ton, ILL.,. has just ruled that the
Illinois State industrial recovery act
is illegal. His finding involved the
automobile code. A firm was charged
with violating the code by selling a
used car as new and allowing a Gus
toner more for used car in a trade
in than the book value fixed by the
code authority. The prosecution was
instituted on complaint of an agent OF
N. r. A. Judge Hall ruled Cd that
the transactions in question were in
trastate and consequently State mat
ters only: (2) that the State Legisla-
ture has no right to delegate its au-
thority to the Federal Government.
and (3) that the Federal Government
has no intrastate police power Judge
Hall served in Congress for several
terms preceding his defeat for re-
election in the 1882 Roosevelt land
slide. His decision in the Illinois
recovery act case attracts special at
tention because it comedies with ac-
tion by Congress that will decide the
fate of N. r. A.
President Roosevelt is concentrat-
ine intensively. and practically to the
exclusion of everything else, upon the
gigantic work-relief enterprise, of
which he will be the big boss He
held forth at his recent press confer
ence for a solid hour-a record ses-
sion-while explaining the staggering
scheme and his set-up for handling
it. One of the points F. D. r. stressed
is that it's a $4,000 0O0. 900 and not
a $1,000 900 900 proposition. The extra
$3.50 10000 commonly mentioned rep
resents the tail-end of relief funds
and has nothing to do with the work.
relief program. While reeling off the
dizzy variety of construction jobs to
be undertaken, Mr.. Roosevelt chuckled
when he came to swimming pools. his
favorite Fairgrounds. He also laugh
ingly explained that political SUB
divisions" to which funds are to be
loaned, mean cities. counties and
States and not congressional districts
"a subtle suggestion that ladies and
gentlemen from Capitol Hill will have
no special status at the pie counter.
X x X
Augustus E. Giegengack. public
printer of the United States, who pre-
sides over the biggest printing shop
in the world. hopes that. now that
Uncle Sam is going in for gigantic
building operations, Congress or Presi-
dent Roosevelt will recognize the de-
STABILITY of constructing a new Gov
ernment Printing Office. The Public
Printer considers the present anti
quated building hazardous in the ex-
treme, from the standpoint of the
5,O00-odd men and women employed
there. He urges the early erection of
modernized home for the establish
ment responsible for production of the
Congressional Record and some 50,-
10000 other public documents year
Secretary Hull withholds confirma-
ton of reports that Leland Harrison,
former foreign service official, is to
become American Minister to Ru-
mania, but it is well understood that
the appointment is imminent. A for
mer Assistant Secretary of State and
successfully Minister to Sweden and
Uruguay, Mr.. Harrison left the serv-
ice several years ago, after having
spent nearly quarter of a century
in it, including duty in the State De-
partment and at Toxic, Peking and
Paris. In view of the administrators
reciprocity program. Secretary Hull
will find Mr.. Harrison's experience OF
special usefulness, because the sea-
soned diplomat once served as chief Of
the International Relations Division
of the United States Tariff Commits
sion. The recall of career man indi-
Gates that the foreign service has not
become happy hunting ground for
New Deal patronage seekers.
X X
Notre Dame University saw two of
its sons nationally honored on the