Evening star., 1937-01-08
0'MAH0NEY URGES.
.CURB|NG JUDICIAL,
EXECUTIVE GROUPS
Senator in Cosmos Club Talk
Hits Lack of Govern.
ment by Law.
ASKS SUPPORT OF BILL
ON CORPORATIONS
Senator Black Says Policies Are
Too Often Decided Without
Voice of People.

Voice of People.
A strict curb by Congress OF the
executive branch Of the Federal Gov
ernment as we'll as check-rein on the
Supreme Courts authority to declare
Federal laws unconstitutional was
urged last night by Senator O'Ma-
honey, Democrat, Of Wyoming, former
Assistant Postmaster General and q
New Deal congressional lieutenant.
Government by law permitting no
discretion in its Interpretation instead
of government by men" was advo-
Gated by O'Mahoney. who spoke after
a dinner at the Cosmos Club arranged
by Richard Hogue, head of the Inde-
pendent Legislative Bureau, a private
research organization interested in
progressive politics.
In his attack on the power OF bu-
reaus and commissions to discriminate
in their enforcement of acts of Con-
gress, the Senator asked for passage
Of his bill requiring a Federal charter
for all corporations whose activities az
feet interstate commerce.
Justice McReynolds Quoted.
To support his insistence that prac-
tically all corporations fall into the
interstate category, O'Mahoney quoted
Justice James C. McReynolds, one of
the most consistent opponents Of the
New Deal on the Supreme Court. In
an argument for the Government 20
years ago McReynolds. then a lawyer
upholding the Sherman antitrust law
before the court. said, according to
O'Mahoney:
I'VE submit that under the power
granted by the commerce clause, Con-
gress may prohibit whatever as an
efficient cause will probably occasion,
as a natural and reasonable conse-
quence, material obstruction or him
drance to the eficacious operation Of
its lawful will"
There is no legal authority"
O'Mahoney added, "for the contention
that intrastate commerce is reserved to
the States and that Congress may not
interfere with it."
His desire to limit the power of cor
porations by national legislation was
applauded by two other Senators at
the meeting. but they disagreed with
his theory that government should be
by law and not by people.
"A great many of us believe that
the American Constitution ought to
be what the American people say 1t Il"
Senator Black, Democrat, Of Alabama,
remarked during an attack on the
Supreme Court, avoiding mention Of
the tribunal by name.
The people themselves don't de-
termine all their policies, but they
are decided for them by small group
of distinguished men completely in
dependent of the people"
For Election Of Judges.
He suggested that the judges should
elected by the people. and recon-
mended that Senator OMahoney's
method of regulating corporate activi.
ties be broadened to include every
other approach conceivable and put
them all in one bill.
IF necessary" Black said, I'VE must
use every lurking. dormant power. We
must fight on all fronts at once. We
must get on every battlefield and let's
see if this is a democracy or if it's
not a democracy. And let's provide
that the constitutionality of the law
has to be decided 80 days after its
enactment"
Such a bill. Black said. might offer
some hope Of fulfilling the 1886
Democratic platforms promise to
raise wages, shorten hours. and i'm
prove the working conditions Of the
American people.
Representative Scott, Democrat, of
California urged congressional aboli-
tion Of the Supreme Courts authority
to declare laws unconstitutional, but
OMahoney recommended q different
approach. He said:
Social Justice Objective.
"If we search diligently enough We
shall find the formula which will
enable all judges to give full play to
the law-making powers Of Congress
and to the attainment Of the ends of
social justice,
THE answer to this question lies in
drawing the distinction between the
corporate person which, through our
modern economic system, is handling
the trade, commerce and industry of
the people, and the natural person,
who has been and is being deprived of
natural rights by the modern eco
nomic FrankenStein.
"A natural person, a citizen of flesh
and blood, precedes all government.
But a corporation has no natural
rights"
Still another method of reconciling
the Supreme Court to recent legisla-
ton was put forward by Senator FL
bert Thomas, Democrat, of Utah who
disagreed with O'Mahoney's plea for
q government of laws.
THE Supreme Court" he said,
should bring a dead document (the
Constitution) down to date and make
it q living organism"