Montana labor news., 1937-04-29
SUPREME COURT GOES
TO BATTLE; UpH0LD5
MINIMUM WAGES
By Federated Press

the court.
After a two weeks recess the court:
l. By a five to four decision over
ruled a previous decision and held
the Washington state minimum wage
law for women constitutional.
2. Unanimously upheld all provi-
sions of the Railway Labor Act as
amended.
3. Unanimously upheld the revised
Frazier-Lemke act giving relief to
debt stricken farmers.
A.. By a five to four decision up
held the right of the state of Vir-
ginia to fix maximum and minimum
prices for milk.
5. Agreed to hear a case involving
the constitutionality of the federal
social security tax.
6. Withheld decision on cases in
volving constitutionality of the Ma
tional Labor Relations Act.
The most startling performance of
the court came in connection with
the Washington minimum wage case.
In holding the act constitutional a
majority of the court confessed it.
self in error in holding a District of
Columbia minimum wage case un-
constitutional some years ago and
~retraced steps taken last June in
holding a New York act invalid.
Holding the Washington statute
valid were Chief Justice Hughes and
Associate Justices Brandeis, Cardozo,
Stone and Roberts. The dissenting
opinion, concurred in by Van De-
vanter, McReynolds and Butler, was
written by Sutherland.
The series of three liberal deci-
sions and the refusal to pass upon
the National Labor Relations Act
led to the immediate presumption
here that the court intends to hold
the labor act unconstitutional and
took this means to soften public re-
action.
It was also assumed that the de-
cisions were tempered by the pend
ing bill to enlarge the Supreme
Court in the event justices over the
age of 70 decline to retire voluntar-
lily. Roberts swung yer on the
minimum wage case, voting with
Sutherland, Butler, McReynolds and
Van Devanter against the New York
act last year.
The decision on the Railway Labor
Act was written by Stone and denied
the railroads contention that shop
men are not in interstate commerce
and that a ban on company unions
is %coercive.
In a decision concerning the shop
mems strike of 1922, Stone pointed
out, the court held that workers in
railroad shops are in interstate COM
merce. Concerning company unions
he said, "Where the obstruction of
the company union is removed the
meeting of employers and employees
at the conference table is a powerful
aid to industrial peace" He also
held the ban on company unions does
not exhaust the resources of the act
and that the railroads can refuse to
sign agreements with bona fide I'M
ions.
The decision unfolding the new
Frazier-Lemke act was read by
Brandeis. He wrote the previous
unanimous decision holding the old
Frazier-Lemke act unconstitutional
but as revised, he said, rights of the
mortgage are not impaired.
The new Frazier-Lemke act pro-
vides that farmers may petition in
bankruptcy court for a three year
moratorium on their debts.
The minimum wage decision was
of such sweeping character that il
was generally regarded as giving
sanction to other state minimum
wage laws, pending or in effect.
What can be closer to the public
interest than the health of womer
and their protection from unscrupu.
lous and o~verreaching employers
Hughes asked in his decision on the
case.
"And if the protection Of womer
is a legitimate end of the exercise
of state power, how can it be sale
that the requirement of the paymen'
of a minimum wage fairly fixed il
order to meet the very necessitie'
of existence is not an admissible
means to thst end?"
) Previously The court held the New
York act invalid because it wa
based on ''the cost of living" and i
was declared that such a phrase i
"too vague" It was also contendec
that the act violated the freedom o
contract.
In the Washington case Hughe
blasted the freedom Of contract
theory. 'What is that?" he asked
"The constitution does not speak o
freedom of contract. 1t speaks 0
liberty and the liberty it safeguard
is the liberty in a social organism.