Evening star., 1936-01-10
A. A. A. Decision Should
Sober National Thought

The recent decision of the Supreme
Court relative to the A. A. A. was Ger.
tainly momentous one-perhaps even
more so than the one Of last May on the
N. r. A. It should have q sobering effect,
not only on Congress and the admins
tration, but on the Nation generally.
Evidently the Supreme Court is going to
insist on the strict observance of the let
ter and spirit Of the Constitution-and
properly so, for otherwise there would be
little use In having a constitution There
has been too much hasty and ill-advised
legislation. Too many measures of great
Importance have been rushed through
Congress on short notice and with little
consideration. Fantastic experiments
have been undertaken and huge sums of
money spent, seemingly under the i'm
preston that Congress has unlimited
powers and "can do no wrong! There
has been too much of tendency to at
tempt by indirection and subterfuge
things for which there is no specific con-
stitutional authority.
The Constitution is the supreme law
of the land, defining and limiting even
the powers Of Congress, the peoples rep
reSentativeS, who can act only within the
Constitution. Even the people them
selves are subject to, and limited by, the
provisions of this document until this Is
changed in orderly manner provided by
this instrument itself. This Is proper
because the Constitution Is a pledge and
an agreement among the people respect
ing their Federal Government. 1t may
be amended, but it must not be ignored
or overridden. The record Of Congress,
especially during the past two or three
years, is sufficient proof that we cannot
rely upon Congress alone to interpret
this fundamental law, or to stay within
its limits, and the Constitution and Su-
preme Court are therefore our only pro-
lection against usurpation Of power by
unscrupulous politicians in Congress or
elsewhere.
Unfortunately our State and local gov
ernments also have often been inefficient
and failed to function properly. There
has been an increasing tendency to "let
Uncle Sam do it"-eSpecially providing
the funds for various projects: they have
been willing enough to spend the money
when that was provided.
The reasons for all these things are
undoubtedly deep-seated. But unques-
tionably one of these Is the fact that our
legislators and other officials, both State
and Federal, are frequently poorly quali-
fed for their positions. There seems to
be a feeling that any ordinary person can
be a legislator, and too often they are
very ordinary-in fact, mediocre. In
stead of selecting our legislators from the
upper strata of the population, we too
often select them from the lower strata
Our only requirements of members of
Congress (both houses. aside from the
requirements pertaining to citizenship
and character, is that they shall have at
tanned certain minimum age, and age
alone certainly does not qualify. one for
the very important function of legislat-
ing. Under our civil service system the
lowest-paid Government clerk is required
to pass some sort of educational test and
prove that he has the necessary knowl-
edge, training and ability to fit him for
the post which he seeks; but a member
Of Congress does not have to know any
thing! It is not surprising, therefore,
that our legislators and other officials are
unable to cope with the problems which
confront the Nation today.
Is it not about time that we set some
sort of mental and intellectual standards
for those who do our legislating, just as
we set standards for our teachers, scien-
lists, tecnnologistS, ETC.? Unless We do
something of this sort we must expect
that our efforts at self government will
be very inefficient and that they will lag
far behind our other development.
Enw WOv rCENCKv