The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-04-29


been three weeks since the Supreme
-, court of the Unit
wagner ACT ed States upheld
Decisions the Wagner labor
relations act, I
doubt that there is more than a
mere handful of people in this ma
ton who are able to comprehend the
full significance of those decisions
of the highest court. The chances
are, if our present form Of govern
ment remains and we continue to
adhere to our Constitution, the full
import of the so-called Wagner act
decisions (there were five of them)
will not be discovered within a
quarter of century.
No decision of the Supreme court
in several decades contains the wide
range of potentialities found in the
decisions of April IL and it may well
be that the findings of the court at
that time will constitute turning
point in United States history.
There are so many potentialities
to be found in the Wagner act de-
cisions that one may reasonably ex-
press a doubt whether states have
any rights left. Likewise, one may
express a doubt whether labor
and the friends of labor have won
or lost in the determination by the
high court that the National Labor
Relations board has power to COM
pei an employer to deal with a ma
jority of his workers, organized into
Union form. Above and beyond these
phases lies another, namely, the
question whether the United States
congress does not have power to
legislate strikes out of existence.
First, I am convinced in review
ing the courts action that there has
been tremendous amount of mis-
information spread about the find
ingS of the court. Never in my
period of service in Washington
have I seen so many different con-
structions placed upon an official
act. We have seen and heard I'M
measured criticism of the court for
turning business over to the labor
unions; we have witnessed renew
al of attacks on the Supreme court
because it did not 60 far enough
to the radical side in granting pow
er to congress and the President,
and we have been deluged with talk
of what can now be done in a legis-
lative way to carry out Mr.. Roose-
velt's theme song, 'The More Album
dant Life" The truth is, however,
that the Supreme court in deciding
the Wagner act cases actually re-
stated in a clarified manner a posi-
ton the court took twelve years ago.
It was in 1925 that the court decid-
ed the so-called second Coronado
coal mining case. In that opinion,
the court laid down the rule, al
though it was obscured, that OBJ
stacles to production constituted an
interference with interstate COM
merce. In the cases this month, the
court reaffirmed and restated that
very theory of law and government,
because it declared in the Jones and
Laughlin Steel company case that
failure of the employer to permit
settlement of the strike through an
official agency of the government
constituted interference with inter-
state commerce. Hitherto, the con-
ception of interstate commerce gen.
orally has been limited to trans
portation of goods or communica-
ton across state lines.
To show the similarity, it is nee
essary only to recall that striking
miners attempted to close en-
frances to the Coronado mines in
Colorado. The cases went to the
Supreme court which hel6 that lille
gal attempts to close the mines con-
stituted an interference with ship
ment of the products into interstate
commerce. So, I am quite con-
WINGED that the job the Supreme
court old in this instance and as
far as it relates to the orgy of New
Deal theories consists only of clari-
flying the legal definition of inter-
state commerce. Laymen are not
concerned with legal technicalities,
nor do they understand them, but
they do understand facts and it was
facts in the Jones-Laughlin case up
on which the court predicated its
decision Notwithstanding the wild
acclaim by New Dealers for the
"enlightened" construction of the
Constitution in that opinion.
Any attempt to point out what
the Wagner act decisions mean and
90. how far they go is
ShIes at bound to lead into
Discussion maze of compli-
Gated discussion.
I have no intention of getting my
self so entangled despite the de-
grees in law that / hold. I am a
firm believer in the declaration that
human nature works out its prob
lens after the manner of slow and
orderly development.
But there are certain circum-
stances connected with the present
court rulings and conditions of this
day that may probably be discussed
without becoming involved in de.
spised legal technicalities.
I mentioned earlier that if the
court, as it did, could find that OBJ.
struction of production constituted
interference with interstate com.
merce, it seems quite obvious that
interference may come from EN-.
ployees as well as employers. 1t is
a fact, therefore, that when the
steel company here concerned re.
fused to obey the mandate of the
National Labor Relations board il
prevented settlement of strike
It must be a fact, therefore, thai
a strike vi the sit-down type con