Evening star., 1938-05-27

minimum wages
and maximum hours and collective
bargaining, are abolished. and in their
place uniform rules, applying horizon
tally to all industries. are eltne. on
the statute books or about to become
law.
Certainly, the famous section IA
81 the Recovery Act was far better
deal for the employers than they sub
sequently got through the Wagner
Act. Likewise, the minimum wage
and hour provisions permitted differ
entails which now are being blocked
In Congress, while there is insistence
on uniform measures applying alike
to all sections of the country.
The essence of the N. r. A. was
that each industry could work out its
own problems, while the measures that
have been adopted since are so gen.
eral that exceptions are not permitted
to take care Of special conditions.
Child labor was banned under the
codes and now. if the new labor stand
and maximum hours goes through the
present session of Congress, the prod
ucts Of child labor will be barred from
Interstate commerce, thus achieving
another one Of the old N. r. A. OBJ
jectives.
Price Sterilization.
Perhaps the most important parts Of
the N. R. A.-the attempt at price
stabilization and the suspension of
1ou-c-houa 70 no
vived. The administration for some
time has been quite willing to see the
antitrust laws revised SO as to permit
price adjustments, but this will not be
achieved until after the investigation
of the monopoly problem is completed
by the proposed congressional commits
sion, legislation to create which is
now pending.
There were many excellent features
of the N. R. A. and many which were
impractical, but the chief trouble
was that the whole administrative
plan did not conform to constitutional
principles. Many of us at the time
urged that the administration rewrite
the law to meet the objections raised
by the Supreme Court opinion. For
some reason the President, piqued by
the high court decision, refused to
allow any rewriting Of the bill to
maintain its good features. He de-
cided on different strategy, part of
which was to enact piece-meal legis-
lation covering different objectives,
and part of which was to carry on
Nation wide crusade against the Su-
preme Court itself.
Today there are many lawyers who
insist that, the Presidents campaign
spective of the outcome of his effort
to pack" the court with six new
justices, because the Supreme Court
began in 1887 to reverse itself on some
fundamental principles of constitu-
tional law. The New Deal lawyers
themselves, notably Robert H. jack
son, openly declare that the decisions
OF the Supreme Court began to change
about the time Mr. Roosevelt began
his attacks, so the President. they in
sist. won on that front even though
he lost on the court-packing bill itself.
The Courts Reversal.
This correspondent has maintained
that the Supreme Court did not re-
verse itself on the minimum wage and
hour law after the Presidents attack
began, but before. Reliable informa-
ton on this point can be had by look
ing up the records at the time the
case was argued.
The only issue on which there may
be a difference of opinion IS whether
the Supreme Court reversed itself
when it upheld the Wagner Act. Ear
lier the court had said manufacture
was not commerce. From this many
lawyers contended that the Wagner
Act governing labor relations in manu-
featuring industries should not be
considered as within the Federal pow
er. The Supreme Court, however,
dealt in the Wagner Act cases with in
terruptions to interstate commerce
growing out of strikes and threatened
strikes. In other words the court
declared that it was Federal right
to protect interstate commerce.
Regardless of these controversies,
the fact remains that today the ST.
preme Court seems to be upholding
the New Deal laws, and yet the laws
themselves are far from effective in
producing stability or prosperity
Also, If the New Deal had kept the
code system and developed it, maybe
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