Evening star., 1936-05-29
Delegation Running Riot,


How does DR.. Tugwells Resettlement
Administration buy farm for farmer
and start him, with Government loans,
on the road to the more abundant life?
There may be other methods, but the
story of the method pursued in rehabili-
tation, as related in the Senate hearings
on the deficiency BILL is fascinating
chapter in what Justice Cardozo in the
N. R. A. decision called delegation run
ming riot"
' DR.. Tugwell was explaining to the Sen
ators what he likes to think of las a
sort of ladder of independence" The
process begins with the first rung of the
ladder, small loan to worthy farm
family until the crop comes in. If the
family has made good"-that is, paid
back some of the money, has some can
ned goods in the cupboard and some
meat in the locker, and if they have fed
the kids all Winter" next Spring there
may be another loan And if the farmer
makes good on that and can keep up
with the farm program laid down for
him, land which we inspect occasion
ally" then I'VE like to think of him as a
person for whom we ought to buy one
of these farms" and start him on
forty-year amortization plan with three
per cent interest.
But Senator Glass wanted to know
what authority the Federal Government
had to go into the real estate busi-
ness" and buy farms. The Senator was
= pretty sure the land could not be bought
unless it was to be used for Govern
ment purposes" And there developed
the story of the rehabilitation corpora
tions and how DR.. Tugwell has bought
farms for farmers.
The corporations were created in the
States under the F. E. r. A., which was
, the original relief agency, later super
seded by the w. P. A. The original re-
lief act gave the F. E. R. A. authority to
grant funds to the States for various
relief purposes. When the funds were
received by the States they became State
funds. The Governors of forty three
States created rural rehabilitation cor
! porations' and part of the relief grants
were given to these corporations.
BY Executive order the Resettlement
Administration was set up in April of last
year and rural rehabilitation work was
transferred to that agency. Last June,
through an understanding between Mr..
Hopkins of F. E r. A. and DR.. Tugwell Of
r. A, the control over the State rehabili-
tation corporations previously exercised
: F. E. R. A. was transferred to R. A. And
through another arrangement" purely
voluntary" between the Resettlement
! Administration and all except two OF
/ the State corporations, the corporations
transferred their funds to special &C
count in the Treasury, where they were
! placed at the disposal of the Resettle-
: ment Administration, subject only to the
Z limitations in expenditure imposed by
the original charters and bylaws Of the
corporations. These bylaws were pre-
pared by the now practically extinct
2 F. E. R. A
r Being State funds, the Treasury and
7 the controller general apparently have
no authority over their expenditure. The
{ Resettlement Administration has the
control. Should the controller general
: refuse to approve voucher for purchase
of land the Resettlement Administration
I is not sure what would happen, as the
question is yet to be raised. But being
: State funds, what could the controller
: general do?
s When one stops to consider that Con-
gress has never approved the expendi-
Z ture of a single penny for the specific
!. purpose of buying farms for farmers and
! starting them up the ladder of inde-
/! pendence" at the average rate of $4,000
= per family, the manner in which that
highly laudable undertaking is being
achieved becomes in itself significant
commentary on the system of govern
ment under the New Deal.