The Sauk Centre herald., 1937-02-11
Launches A ThunderbOlt

Launches A ThunderbOlt
President Roosevelt took Con-
gress completely by surprise on
Friday afternoon when he trans
mitted to the two bodies his mes
sage on 1.-THE Reorganization OF the
Federal Judiciary Indeed, the
proposal is revolutionary as well as
epochal. In short, the President has
asked for power to reconstitute the
Supreme Court of the United
States by naming an additional
Judge whenever sitting judge
fails to voluntarily retire within
six months after reaching the age
of seventy and with ten or more
years of service. AS / see it, the
proposal is fraught with danger to
our form Of government in that 1T
would enable a president to pack
the Federal Courts with judges
who see eye to eye with him and
therefore would approve of his
every act. In short, it might destroy
representative government such as
we now have, which 1t has taken
the human family centuries OF
fighting and bloodshed to attain.
There are some grave abuses in the
present system. No one can deny
that. For instance, now it frequent
ly happens that two Federal Dis
trict courts will hold differently on
the same question. That should be
corrected by certifying the first de-
cision Immediately to the Supreme
Court for review where constitu-
tional question is involved, and the
Attorney General of the United
States notified before the original
decision is made. Then, too, the
system of invalidating an Act of
Congress by 5-4 vote is all wrong.
AS matter of fact it should be at
least by a 6-3 vote. 1t may be that
we need more judges in order to
keep the court calendars current.
Committee hearings, which will be-
gin at once, will bring all these
things out and until we have the
final committee draft and report
before us one can hardly form a
definite opinion on what should be
done. One thing Is certain: Now
that the legislative branch has be-
come a mere rubber stamp 1t Is i'm
perative that the judicial branch
be kept free from political pres
sure.
Old Age Pensions
A number of bills to liberalize
the old age pension section of the
Security act have been introduced.
I have such a bill pending and it is
my purpose to call the authors of
these pension bills together at an
early date in an endeavor to unite
them on one plan that we can all
get behind. There are now between
eight and nine million out of en-
ployment, most of them young men
and women. We are told that not
more than one-half the number
can he absorbed in industry, even
though the times were normal. If
that be true 1t would seem that the
solution hes in making It possible
for people to retire at sixty so as
to make room for the young. To my
way of thinking the solution lies in
that direction rather than in short
er hours.
Ever Normal Granary" Conference
BY the time this letter appears
in print the conference called by
Secretary Wallace to consider his
"ever-normal granary" plan will
have been held. The meeting was
called for Monday last and in at
tendance were to be representatives
Of the Farm Bureau, National
Grange, National Farmers Union,
National Cooperative Council, and
the National Grain Corporation.
The aim Of the plan is to store In
government warehouses excess
farm crops in good years to be dis
tributed to the market in years
when production is below demand.
Such a plan would prevent ruinous
prices in years of over-production
and at the same time protect con-
sumers against high prices which
heretofore have always followed
poor crops. To my mind this would
be fine thing and the wonder of
1t Is that such a plan was not put
in operation years and years ago.
Civil Service Examinations
The United States Civil Service
Commission has just announced the
following examinations to be held
shortly, for the purpose Of filling
vacancies at the st. Cloud Veterans
Hospital:
Carpenters Helper, salary 1890
per annum.
Plumbers Helper, salary 1890
per annum.
Electricians Helper, salary $500
per annum.
Assistant Gardener, salary $500
per annum.