Evening star., 1936-01-05
A. A. A. RULING HELDKEY
TO NEW DEALS COURSE
Reaction of President, if He Loses, May
Be Different From Days of N. A.
Verdict, Observer Saws.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

- ONE Monday very soon the S'l-
preme Court will make history
It will make legal and constitu-
tional history as a matter OF
course. Besides, what the court does
will cause President Roosevelt to do
something. And what the President
does-or even what he does not do
win make political history.
refer to the pending decision of the
court on triple A. Whether the court
sustains triple A or does not political
history will follow. Especially will it
follow II the court finds triple A to
be not constitutional
The two main agencies Of the New
Deal were A. A. A. and N r. A, the
former to regulate agriculture, the lat
ter to regulate business. Both had to
run the gantlet Of the Supreme Court.
N. r. A. was the first to be put to the
constitutional test.
The theory Of the New Dealers was
that business prosperity depended on
N. r. A.: that without N. r. A. there
would be price cutting, wage cutting;
that business would be in a condition
partly Of paralysis, partly of chaos.
But on May 81 last the Supreme
Court, by a unanimous decision, over
turned N. r. A., slew the Blue Eagle
At once business became more active,
prices rose, wages generally increased
in short, recovery got under way
The magic imputed to N. r. A. evapo-
rated, the people came out from under
the spell of it. The Blue Eagle was
not only dead bird but a discredited
one. Today no one honors it or mourns
for it. Especially does no one want to
see it revived. Several applications of
an administration pulmotor to it have
failed to make it breathe again.
Would Mean End of Magic"
Suppose now the Supreme Court
holds triple A unconstitutional, wipes
out A. A. A. as it wiped out N. r. A.
And suppose that thereafter prices VI
farm crops rise. that farming as an
industry becomes more satisfactory.
That would dispel the magic Of the
other main agency of the New Deal
The New Deal. as a whole. would be
as shorn of magic as half of it, N. r.
A.. already is.
Let us go back to last May. On the
27th of that month the Supreme Court
by unanimous decision held N. r. A.
invalid At once President Roosevelt
did some extraordinary things. At
his first press conference following the
court decision he told the newspaper
men that the news arising out of the
courts decision was to be found not
in Washington, but throughout the
country. The President" said an ac-
count the following day, emphasized
that the story of this situation was
not in Washington, but throughout the
country. Let observers and re-
Porters look there to determine what
is happening" Mr.. Roosevelt pre-
dicted specifically that there would
be cutting of wages, lengthening of
| hours at work, ruinous competition
leading to slashing of prices. He men,
/ toned the industries in which he said
cutting of wages and unreasonable
lengthening of hours would take place.
That was at the first conference fol-
lowing the Supreme Courts invalida-
| ton of N. r. A. At the second news
paper conference-it became famous
Mr.. Roosevelt went further. He be-
gan" said newspaper account, by
reading extracts from kilograms ne
had received. All those from which
he read deplored the Supreme Court
decision. ." Some who were pres
ent inferred that Mr.. Roosevelt's read
ing these kilograms to newspaper men,
with the obvious expectation that the
newspaper men would describe them
in their reports, had the purpose of
stimulating still more kilograms of
inspiring public disapproval of the
courts decision.
Check on Price Figures.
Throughout it was quite plain that
Mr. Roosevelt sincerely believed that
unfortunate business conditions would
follow from the courts decision. He
announced that he would partially
disband N R. A., but would keep a
skeleton organization: and he an
AOAAASSA tAAot SAAC 4uAl(IlOll VI Vic ShcI-
eton organization would be to gather
statistics which would show prices
and wage rates after the Supreme
Courts invalidation of N. r. A., COM
pared with prices and wage rates be-
fore.
So definite was Mr.. Roosevelt's pre-
diction of bad business conditions that
on June headline in the New York
Times read:
STOCKS BREAK ON PRESIDENTS
VIEWS: