Evening star., 1937-08-03
Let's Think It Over
Congress Might Do u. S. Real Service by Post.
ponng Wage.Hour Bill Action.

use to the disadvantage Of one section,
the advantage Of another. As one ex-
ample. the board Is directed to intro
duoe the 40 cents an hour minimum
wage and the 40-hour maximum week,
"as rapidly as is economically feas-
ible." cat least think the bill still
contains this provision; the bill
changes so swiftly by amendment and
committee change that it Is hard to
follow. This is one Of the objections
to enacting the bill now: few know
just what 1t provides, fewer know
how 1t will work.
The latitude to the board in that
phrase, As rapidly as Is economically
feasible" Is great and dangerous If
the board, when appointed, reflects
the temper Of the Machiavellis, I
suspect 1t will find very early that 1t
is economically feasible" to handicap
or destroy industries In States repre-
sented by anti-New Deal Senators.
One would look for prompt disaster to
industries In Senator Pat Harrison's
Mississippi, for example, or Senator
Carter Glass Virginia, or Senator
Burke's Nebraska. In long experience
in Washington, have never seen any
party or group as willing to use power
IN 4 punitive way As the New Deal
"idealists." They are ruthless, some
Of them frankly outspoken, IN their
determination to discriminate against
not only individuals but groups and
sections that oppose them The funda-
mental conception Of the Machiavellis
Is 4 one party government, with op-
position parties prescribed and ex-
terminated. As in Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy and Communist Russia.
In that conception opposition Is trea-
son, and is treated as such.
Suicide for States.
BY this bill, by any version OF it, by
the fundamental principle Of 1t. the
States and sections lay themselves
open and bare to the power Of Wash
ington. This bill. with others pro-
posed, forecasts suicide Of the States.
The States might at least, in self-re-
spect, wait to be murdered
The tragic thing Is that surrender
by the States Of power over industries
Is not necessary. The humanitarian
objectives Of the wage and hour bill
can be As we'll achieved by State leg
klation with Federal legislation in
the role Of complimentary protection),
as by the present bill giving all power
to Washington. This was not true 4
little while ago; until recently there
was justification for covering this sub
ject by Federal legislation. Through
recent decisions Of the Supreme Court
the reasons for Federal egisla ton,
rather than State. have disappeared.
Few understand what has happened
Few understand that the States can
now keep their powers, yet attain the
humanitarian objectives OF regulation
OF industry. How Congressman who
prize State rights can vote as some
OF them are voting on this measure
can only be explained on the assump-
ton that they do not understand there
Is better way.
The best disposition of the pending
wage and hour measure-perhAps too
good to hope for-would be for Con-
gress acting with leisure and dignity,
in the sober execution of its own pre-
negatives. without deadlock or filibus-
ter, merely to announce that it wants
time to understand this measure; con-
sequently 1t will not pass the measure
At this session, but will act upon it
promptly when 1t reassembles next
January.
(Copyrisht, 1879