Evening star., 1936-02-04
Anticipatory Repeal.

to Congress calls for the prompt repeal
of three laws growing out Of the New
Deal which have been in imminent
danger of invalidation at the hands Of
the Supreme Court of the United States.
They are the Bankhead cotton control
act, the Kerr-Smith tobacco control act
and the potato control act. In the light
of the decision of the Supreme Court
declaring the agricultural adjustment
act unconstitutional, it was only ques-
ton of time before these three laws
would have been thrown out of the
window. The President, apparently, de-
cided that it was futile to wait for the
action of the court. The New Deal has
taken several hard blows at the hands
of that tribunal, blows that have less
ened the prestige of the New Deal ad-
ministration and have given the oppo-
Sition new ammunition.
The three laws which the President
now recommends Congress to repeal
were all supplementary to the A. A. A.
They went further than the A. A. A., i'm
posing taxes upon produce sold in excess
of the quotas allotted the individual
farmers. They were compulsory laws
in the strictest sense, using the power
| of taxation to impose the will of the
Government. Control of production of
wheat, corn and hogs, under the general
A. A. A. was supposedly voluntary, with
the farmers who complied receiving
| benefit payments from the Federal Gov
ernment. The Supreme Court in its ruling
on the A. A. A. maintained that the
Federal Government had no power,
under the Constitution to 60 into the
business of controlling agricultural pro-
duction in the States.
President Roosevelt and the New Deal
ers have not abandoned the idea of con-
trolled production. They are going about
it in different way, way which they
hope will be able to pass the test of the
Supreme Court. Benefits are to be paid
the farmers but not for the restriction
of production. Other names are given
to these proposals-the preservation and
| improvement of soil fertility, the diminu
| ton of the exploitation and Improbable
use of the national soil resources, the
| promotion OF an economic use of the
! land, the maintenance of continuous
| and stable supply of agricultural COM
| modities adequate to meet the domestic
| and foreign consumer requirements, at
prices fair to both producers and con-
sumers, etc. The farmers are to be paid,
one way or another, for compliance with
| the programs outlined by the Federal
Government and presumptively adopted
by the State governments.
The new administration farm relief
bill, presented to the House and Senate
in slightly varying forms, is believed by
many members of the Senate and House
however, to pass under the whip and
spur of administration leadership. 1t
seems to give the Secretary of Agricul-
ture wide powers and discretion in using
those powers. And so the struggle to
put into effect. the ideas of Wallace and
Tugwell is renewed.
In the meantime, the President Is
asking for repeal of New Deal acts which
have placed Government in control OF
agricultural production to an extent
never before dreamed of in this country.
There are other New Deal acts, gov
erning other activities of the people and
attacked on the ground of unconstitu-
tionality which are still to have their day
in the Supreme Court. Among them
are the Guffey coal act, the T. v. A,
the public utilities holding company act
and the Wagner labor relations act. No
move has yet been made by the Presl-
dent to secure the repeal of these meas
ures. The Guffey coal act, however, has
been called the little N. R. A" The
Supreme Court unanimously held the N.
R. A. to be unconstitutional. 1t has
generally been supposed that when the
court reaches the Guffey act, it will
follow in the way of the N. r. A. 1t
would not be inconsistent for the PreSi-
dent to ask the repeal of that act, under
the same process of reasoning that
brought him to ask the repeal of the
cotton, tobacco and potato control acts.
lt1