Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-11-28


National Labor Relations Board.
While the American Federation of
Labor has started the controversy
and announced at the Houston con-
vention recently that it would line
up its forces in the Senate against
approval of the nomination, many
conservatives who dislike the labor
board and its decisions are prepar-
ing to 60 along with the A. F. of L.
The objections of the A. F. of L.
to Mr.. Smiths reappointment are
not personal, but impersonal They
relate to his decisions and rulings
which, it is contended, are unfavor-
able to the A. F. of l.. and favorable
to the G. I. o. No one has sug-
gested that Mr.. Smith is not con-
scientious in the discharge of his
duty or honest in his convictions as
to how the Wagner Act shall be
construed. The whole case against
him admittedly is that the A. F. of
L. doesn't like his formal opinions.
But Mr.. Roosevelt didn't like the
opinions of certain justices of the
Supreme Court, and the main rea-
son why his packing" bill was
beaten was because it was insisted
persuasively by friends of constitu-
t:onal government that judges
should not be changed Just because
President didn't like their deci-
sions. The members of the National
Labor Relations Board are virtually
judicial officers. To threaten their
removal because their decisions are
disliked by one pressure group is to
introduce the political factor. For
If members of Government boards
and commissions feel they must
keep a weather eye on what the
special groups think of their deci-
sions, lest they find themselves
thrown out of their Jobs by the polit-
zeal influence of these groups in
the Senate, then Independent judg-
ment by these board members will
become practical impossibility and
confidence in the fairness of the
decisions will be questioned by the
public.
Judicial Conformity.
The principle underlying the at
tack on the reappointment of Mr.
Smith is just the same as the effort
to make court judges conform to
group pressure. Thus the American
Federation of Labor is consistent in
opposing Mr.. Smith because the A.
F. of L. has for years attacked GER
tain justices of the Supreme Court
for their labor decisions and lately
the G. I. o. has adopted the same
tactics. These labor groups have a
political conception of the duties
of Federal Judge or of a member of
a quasi judicial commission.
But while the labor groups are
insistent that public officers permit
public sentiment" or other polite
ally derived factors to govern their
decisions and rulings on points of
law, the conservatives inside and
outside Congress have never cham
pioned that point of view. This is
why they will be confronted with a
serious dilemma if they join in the
fight against confirmation of Mr..
Smiths appointment. Undoubtedly
many of them will use the contro-
versy as means of opening up a
discussion by Congress of the whole
operation and administration of the
Wagner Act, but this is attempting
by indirection to do something
which If it is done at all might be
justified only if it is direct effort
BY a committee to study necessary
amendments in the provisions of the
law itself. But this has nothing
TO do with Mr.. Smiths capacity to
serve as member of the labor
board
Prejudices Against Board.
Much prejudice has been built up
against the members of the National
Labor Relations Board on the
ground that they are biased on
behalf of labor but it is noteworthy
fact that proportion of nine-out-
often decisions Of the board have
been upheld by the United States
Circuit Court of Appeals. The truth
Of the matter is that many oppo-
nents of the Wagner Act do not
recognize plainly that their real OBJ
lection Is to what Congress did in
writing the terms of the law rather