Evening star., 1937-03-14
Presidents Confidants
Predict Larger Court
BY OWEN L. SCOTT,

IHNc AoeTAl supreme court Will De
sitting in Washington. Also: The change
that occurs will be by direct act Of Con-
gress, thereby showing who really is the
big boss, Mr.. Roosevelt or the justices.
But then what? Has President Roose-
velt any very fundamental plans for
making life different than it is today for
the ordinary citizen, once he has
a changed court?
A bit Of research reveals that what the
President wants, according to his own
explanations, is little more than he
thought he had in N. r. A. and A. A. A
before the courts got busy In those
experiments, he sought to soften COM
petition for businessmen, workers and
farmers by using the powers of Govern
to put a cushion under prices and wages.
Judges frowned upon that activity.
The result is that Mr.. Roosevelt is
deeply determined to change the Judi
cial mind. He insists that an infusion
of new blood into the judiciary is es-
sential to enable him to deal with
mysterious approaching crisis.
Right now, court or no court, the
country is moving into period of pros
perity. Wages are rising, profits are near
boom levels, employment is on the up
grade, farm prices are at the parity"
which was the goal of the old A. A. A.,
Government finances are approaching a
balance-all with the Supreme Court
unchanged. And President Roosevelt
takes credit for this obvious recovery
The explanation? Simply that inf1a-
tionary forces, set in motion by the
President and the Congress-without
any Supreme Court check-are much
more powerful than the controls that
were to be applied by N. r. A. and A.
A. A. In the days when N. r. A. and
A. A. A. were in their prime the big
job was to check deflation. Now it soon
may be to curb imitation.
The justices did nothing to restrain
Harry Hopkins or Harold Ickes from
spending billions of borrowed money in
the interest of pump printing. Govern
ment economists now are agreed that
this spending is in great degree respon-
sible for the activity that is sweeping
industry. But neither is there anything
the court can do to keep Mariner S.
Eccles and his Federal Reserve Board
from using broad powers over banking
to control the boom that this spending
and this devaluation seem to have gem
Grated.
The court did obliterate Blue Eagle
codes, in unanimous agreement, there
by lnjuring the dignity of Gen. Hugh
s. johnson.
But the Supreme Court judges have
done nothing to stop John L. Lewis from
moving in to capture for labor more
than N. R. A. ever was able to capture.
Old section IA of N. I. R. A. seemed
the millennium to labor leaders, be-
cause OF its supposed projections for
labor organizers. Still section IA was
never enforced. Today the principles on
which it was based are accepted by this
countrys major employers due to ma
neuVerlngs by Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr..
Lewis, without any noticeable court
check.
Also business lost its price controls and
its production controls when the codes
went out. There were predictions that
price wars would follow Actually. prices
today are in the midst of a rapid, in
nafionary rise. Not only that, but busi-
ness men have induced Congress to give
them, through the new Robinson Pat
man act, and through a forthcoming
Mlller-Tydings act, most of the very
price controls that they so priced in the
N. r. A. codes.
Thus, the objectives of N r. A., both
for labor and business men, are being
reached in spite of the Supreme Court
but without direct Government SUPER
vision
Henry Morgenthau. jr Secretary of
the Treasury, and his counsel, Herman
Onphant-Wlth the Presidents support
ana without court oppoSition-will DEM
onstrate on Monday part of the power
that the Federal Government possesses
to force the wealthy people of this coun-
try to share their income with the less
Well-to-do.
Six out of the nine Supreme Court
justiceS-f1ve OF them among those
President Roosevelt has in mind as over
7O-Wrote an end to the first Government
experiment in farm control
Yet they were unable to prevent Henry
Wallace, Secretary Of Agriculture, and
Chester Davis, then A. A. A. admin
istrator, from working out an ingenious
substitute that is even more widely ac-
cepted by farmers. Thus far, there Is
little to show that this new A. A. A. is
less effective than the old, because Ma
ture, through drought in each case, has
done the job that the Government set
out to do. Certainly, farmers are pros
porous in many parts of the land.
President Roosevelt is deeply con-
cerned about what the present judges
would do to his old-age insurance and
unemployment insurance programs. He
is uncertain about what will happen to
his utility holding company law and his
law for regulation Of security exchanges
and security issues.
But he has barely tested the broad
powers that Cordell Hull, Secretary of
State. now enjoys to seek sound recov-
cry through an adjustment of tariffs.
The court itself has given assurance con-
corning the validity of almost any law
that Is passed with the object of keep
Ing this country out of foreign wars. 1t
has approved Government development
and distribution Of electric power
What, then. is Mr.. Roosevelt really
bothered about? There is an approach
ing prosperity. Government powers are
exercised in broad fields that are not
subject to court checks. Many powers
have not yet been tested. Where is the
| crisis of which the President speaks?
The answer must be sought through
glimpse into the future. Right now,
| most OF the world is in period of in
f1ationary rebound from the deflation
that set in during 1882. Part of that
imitation is based on feverish rearma-
ment, which adds greatly to the demand
for commodities.
fol, T.