Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-04-13
Judicial
Continued From First Page.)

in brief opinion, pointing out that
no questions of interstate commerce
was involved and holding that the law
did not deprive the company OF any
property rights under the due process
clause. The company was ordered
to reinstate with back pay some 81
employees discharged after they had
joined a union.
Curb on Press Denied.
The Associated Press case presented
two major questions-whether the
press association was engaged in in
terstate commerce and whether the
law as applied to it violated the free
dom Of the press. The opinion an
swered the first proposition in the
affirmative and held there had been
no invasion of the freedom of the
press. 1t also said the act did not
deprive the association of due process
OF law in compelling collective bar
gaining with employees.
The ruling had the effect of ordering
the reinstatement of Morris Watson,
New York editorial employee, with back
pay. The National Labor Relations
Board found he had been dismissed be-
cause of his activity in the American
Newspaper Guild, although the press
association said he was discharged be-
cause his work had not been up to his
proven capability.
The real test in the law came in the
steel corporation "ase-a long-aWaited
ruling which attracted to the spacious
court room such notables as Mrs
Charles Evans Hughes, wife of the
Chief Justice; w. S. Van Dyke, motion
picture director; Mrs j. Borden Harri-
man, mentioned for appointment as
Minister to Norway; Mrs. Clifford Pin
chot, wife of the former Governor of
Pennsylvania, and Mrs Mable Walker
Willebrandt, former Assistant Attor-
ney General.
Sweeping Decision.
Having decided to uphold the law
the court, in the opinion read by the
Chief Justice, minced no words in
stating its position.
The old rule that Congress could
regulate only matters having a direct
effect on interstate commerce went by
the boards, the court holding in effect
that the Federal Government also can
regulate labor activity having an in
direct effect on interstate commerce il
its effect is substantial one.
Commenting on a plea by counsel
for the steel corporation that the court
consider only direct effects, the Chief
Justice said:
I'VE are asked to shut our eyes to
the plainest facts of our national life
and deal with the question of direct
and indirect effects in an intellectual
vacuum. Because there may but
indirect and remote effects upon inter-
state commerce in host of local en-
terprises throughout the country it
does not follow that other industrial
activities do not have such a close
and intimate relation to inter-
state commerce as to make the pres
ence of industrial strife matter O. the
most urgent national concern.
When Industries organize them
selves on national scale, making
their relation to interstate commerce
the dominant factor in their activi-
ties, how can it be maintained that
their industrial labor relations con-
stitute forbidden field into which
Congress may not enter when it is
necessary to protect interstate COM
merce from the paralyzing conse-
quences Of industrial war? We have
often said that interstate commerce
itself is a practical conception. It is
equally true that interferences with
that commerce must be appraised by a
judgment that does not ignore actual
experience"
Opens Door to Regulation.
In this holding that the labor rela-
tons Of a steel manufacturer are
subject to Federal regulation under
the commerce clause, the court opened
ths door to regulation by Congress