Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1936-12-31
To Control
Business

Business gress that will set
up, if it becomes
law, a comprehensive mechanism
to control and regulate some of the
principal activities of business cor
porations. 1t is far reaching prop
osition, as it now stands, and it
cannot be passed off lightly. There
is support for it in a number of
quarters. While it undoubtedly will
not become law in it's present form,
it must be regarded as the opening
wedge.
The Wyoming senator's principal
idea is to require businesses of an
Incorporated character to take out
federal license. If they do not
comply, the proposed law would
deny them the right to ship goods
into retail trade between states.
While the main theme of the prop
osition does not seem anything about
which one should get excited, it is
the things that can be done behind
such general requirement that
must and will be examined by con-
gress and the country before
it takes step of the kind advocated
by Senator O'Mahoney. For exam
pie, if the federal government is
permitted to require businesses to
obtain a license or charter from
Washington, those businesses may
be compelled to meet all manner
of requirements before such a Ii
cense or charter is granted In the
reverse, if after they have the Ii
cense, they fail to observe the pro-
visions laid down either by congress
or bald headed bureaucrats, re-
vocation of the license is the pen
atty that may be exacted. 1t should
be added that exaction of a penalty
of this kind, once the license provi-
sion is established as a federal gov
eminent right, becomes a powerful
weapon and the limit to which that
power may be exercised is scarcely
to be forecast.
While, as I said, the O'Mahoney
legislation may not be expected to
become law in its present form, it's
terms and provisions give a hint
of what can be expected of any
legislation of similar character.
Take this provision, for example:
Crates of pay shall be increased
and hours of work shall be reduced
in accordance with gains in the
productive efficiency of the indus
try, arising from increased mechan-
ization, improvements in technology
cal methods, or from other causes,
to the end that employees shall have
an equitable participation in the out
put of industry, and that employ
ment and mass purchasing power
may keep pace with industry"
1t seems quite obvious that under
such a basic statement of princi-
-. pies, business
Dlctdtorldl could easily b
PoUers made to agree to
collective bargain
ing among its employees, to estab-
lish minimum wages and to follow
the dictates of some bureau or COM
mission in Washington in actual
management and PRONUNCIATION of
policies. Indeed, it is set forth in
the O'Mahoney draft that the fed
eral trade commission would be au-
thorized to obtain all irrelevant and
detailed data as to production costs,
prices and profits"
AS I see this sort of thing and
from the views of experts with
whom I have consulted, I cannot
escape the conclusion that such leg
islation simply extends to the fed
eral government dictatorial powers
over virtually all private business.
1t means, moreover, that politics
and politicians would be the guiding
force and that if union labor leaders
were in control of the agency hav-
ing supervisory powers over bust
ness or if communists or conserv-
atives or any other class were in
control, business would be directed
in accordance with the economic
views of that school of thought.
Since our nation frequently hands
the responsibility of government
control from one political party to
the other, the implications of such
legislation as this are tremendous,
to say the least.
Constitutional questions enter into
this legislation and it may be that
the basic theory advanced by the
Wyoming senator will not hold at
all. AS I understand it, Senator
O'Mahoney is holding no pride of
authorship as to the language of
his bill but to the principles he
strongly adheres. So, it is made
to appear at least, as I said above,
that this proposal constitutes an en-
tering wedge on an entirely new
theory of government relation to
private business. For that reason,
it is one of the most significant
propositions to come forward in re-
cent years, more significant, I be-
ieve, than the Inflated NRA. It
certainly is a proposition that should
be watched closely by all citizens.
Affairs of the heart are all right
privately, our American Depart
nent 0f 81 n a