Evening star., 1938-09-19

WAS pUO uluCA
trouble to amend the Constitution and
that any 13 States could easily block
an amendment.
The group who ARE afraid OF democ-
.racy" today it is being said in reply,
aare those who decline to use the pro-
visions of the Constitution itself to
meet changing conditions and are
distrustful Of the peoples vote If
concrete issues of constitutional change
should be put before them for Eyes"
or mo- decision.
Thus In the last five years not
single constitutional amendment has
been passed by Congress for submission
totthe people of the United States. 1t
takes a two-t thirds vote Of both houses
to submit an amendment to the Con-
stitution and yet the Democratic ad-
ministration has had the unprece-
dented strength of more than two
thirds in both the House and the
Senate. After that step, three-fourths,
or 36 Of the States of the Union must
Aratify. The Republicans in the last
few years have controlled only about
Z States and the remaining Al
have been Democratic or, as in one or
two instances like Minnesota and Wis
consin, In control of groups friendly
to the New Deal.
Attempted Judicial Control.
While the process of meeting changes
in social and economic conditions Is
written into the Constitution. the New
Deal has decided not to avail itself
of that machinery but by control of
Congress and attempted control Of
judicial Interpretation to make unnec-
essary any resort to the referendum
idea stipulated in the Constitution.
Although the Constitution specifi-
cally says that any powers not espe-
cially mentioned in the document are
reserved Ito the States" or to the "peo-
pie" the Roosevelt administration has
assumed the right to make funda-
mental changes in the social and eco
nomical life Of the Nation, touching
basic powers that are not granted to
the Federal Government in the Con-
stitution. Not one Of the following
powers, for example, which have been
assumed by the Roosevelt administra-
ton are mentioned in the Constitution:
l. The right to control wages and
hours as now provided in the so-called
"Fair Labor Standards Act" jammed
through by the President at the last
session Of Congress.
2. The right to control the out
put of each farm as provided in the
latest agricultural legislation, and to
influence the prices to be charged in
marketing.
g. The right Of the States to police
labor disputes of local character as,
for instance, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board assumption that virtually
all labor disputes are related to or
affect interstate commerce. power
assumed under the broad language of
the Wagner law.
4. The prohibiting of the individual
to accumulate profits in business as a
reserve for hard times as under the
so-called undistributed profits tax legis-
lation.
Only Few Instances.
These are but few of the many
basic changes which normally would
be submitted to the people for approval
or disapproval as each addition or
subtraction of Federal power involves
broad questions Of lawful authority.
The usual argument made by the
New Deal is that it takes too much
time to get a constitutional amend
ment through the existing process.
But the records show that the Consti-
tuition has been amended 81 times and
that delays occur only when, properly
enough, the people are divided as to
the wisdom of the change. Once two
thirds of both houses OF Congress
agree to submit an amendment which
the people really want. as was the
case with the goth and the 21st amend
ments. the process takes only a few
months and the dissenting States are
negligible in number.
But even conceding that the present
process is cumbersome and that a
new provision respecting the method
of making changes in the Constitu-
ton is desirable, as has often been
advocated by so-called liberals, the
records do not show a single recon-
mendation in any public address or
message from Mr.. Roosevelt urging
such constitutional amendment.
Won't Trust People.
Instead of trusting the people to
vote on specific amendments, which
Is the truly democratic process, the
Roosevelt regime has adopted the
vell-known Tory tactics of usurping
all powers and manipulating the
political strength of the Central Gov