Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-05-28
PLANNING THE LESS
ABUNDANT LIFE.
BY MERLE THORPE,
BY M
i'm Nations Business.

A government official sends out let
tiers under frank to $500 lawyers who
are on salary or fee -asis with his
department, soliciting their business
for a private lawyer on the ground
that he has an intimate knowledge
of the government departments, bu
reaus and agencies" and with the
assurance that many of us will turn
to him for assistance and advice II
his capacity as a private lawyer"
The private citizen-the few of him.
who are left of a rapidly declining
race-feels his gorge rise at the
spectacle of a public servant appro
priating stamps and stationery a:lI
the time of employees hired by the
citizens for other purposes.
But there is graver concern. When
it is thus brought clearly to view thai
one of the 150-odd federal bureaus
employs the services in whole or part
of $500 lawyers, the citizen begins to
wonder how many of the $4,000 law
yers in the United States are receiv-
ing federal pay.
In reality there are two govern
ments in Washington. One is the re
which the law-making function is as
signed to Congress- The other is tn
rapidly growing jungle of bureaus arG
commissions, boards and authoritie:
which exercise all three governmental
functions-the legislative, executive
and judicial. Under the gu:se Of exc
cutive orders or regulations, they arc
proclaiming laws in an unendinF
stream, telling the American what h
may do and what he may not do. Ii
149 instances the American Bar As
ISOLATION found, permit or license
bearing the seal ofsan administrative
bureau is made asprerequisite to car"
rying on a business or some othe~
form of activity
The Secretary Of Agriculture, til
man, may pay more for land conser
walton to the farmers Of Iowa thar:
he chooses to pay the farmers of New
York, and only recently announced
that, in his own good time he woul'
decrease the penalties Of fine and i'm
prisonment upon. those who violate
the crop regulations. The Admini
TRAITOR of Relief, the man, can decide
that the relief wages shall be higher
in California than in Clnnecticu
The Secretary OF the Interior the
man, warns effectively that if a city
does not do as he likes IN planning (;
$42,000,000 bridge project, he mig
change his mind" and refu~e the fe1
eraf grant. The Sccre' ,Ary Of Lobor
the woman, DEGREES pottery worker
upon government contracts mus ret
$17.10 a week, and hat and cap VOL
ers'e$27.
What a spectacle for America. For.
mer1y the law was on the ! ook!
where all might read: toGay it IS ca
ried around In3er the hats of men -
government offices.
Here may be found one answer tt
our continuing depression, to the con
tinuing stagnation of business &C
tivity, and to continuing unemploy
ment. We have put leaders int
straitjackets CT UNIV i.ten law. Tht
citizen can no longer remain at homt.
study the statutes md decide wha
course of action is legal. He mus
either take in han1 his brief case OF
send a lawyer to Washington in the
hope of finding someone among 1T,
600 federal emp Cyecs 20 tell him VIVA
the law happens to- BE- that morning
Inland Steel, for example, after j
found its man, wa unable for ter
months to get tho Law. The Dougla
Aircraft got decision from on au
thority only to learn a year later tina
the earlier decision no longer stood
and back pay was awarded to ex
convicts.
Political authority each day sub
merges more and more of the pre-
negatives of the citizen. This "nev
espotism"-Gc-callcd by the Lor'
Chief Justice of EnglandAsubstitute
bureaucratic tecrce for Legislative.
elaboration
This s.lc-'.--1ss-rS IN government