Evening star., 1939-06-06

producers of goods could argue that
they were not subject to Federal
control. But now the Supreme
Court says that milk producers who
pass their milk on to handlers with
in a State are subject to Federal
authority because the milk may pos
sibly go outside the State. Earlier
this year, the court held that COM
pany engaged in making SportSWear
garments for women and employing
Just a few workers was subject to
Federal authority, even though the
goods might not go outside the
State, because a strike of the few
employees might affect interstate
commerce. Just how the Nation
could suffer any hardship if few
less sports garments were made is
hard to understand but that's the
verdict from on high.
The gradual stretching of the
power of Congress to regulate the
internal concerns of the businesses
of every State in the Union has
been upheld by court in which
four out of the nine are appointees
of President Roosevelt In the
latest case, that relating to price
fixing of milk by Federal order, the
four Roosevelt appointees voted to-
gether and, with the aid of Justice
Stone, who probably will be Chief
Justice in the event of the retire
ment of Mr. Hughes, the congress
sional power to regulate all COM
Nf 10 70
appears to have been sustained.
Gradual Evolution.
1t has been a gradual evolution
this stretching of the commerce
purely intraState tranSactions-bu
little by little, in case after case. the
complete and absolute authority of
the Congress to regulate production.
on the ground that it does or may
effect interstate commerce, has been
established as the supreme law OF
the land, subject only to reversal
by the people at the polls. i.
If the present trend of decisions is
continued. the State governments
will find themselves with only the
function of exercising the police
power-the maintenance of order
though already Congress is stepping
into that field with Federal bureau
of detectives which will have to be
considerably enlarged to take care
of it's many new responsibilities.
Thus, although the administration
and its spokesmen in Congress re-
fused to pass laws invading the
power of the States to punish CO.
ercion or intimidation or violence as
between workers and their fellow
workers, statute now is being pro-
posed in Congress to supersede the
rights of the States and to compel
the Federal Government to prose-
cute all employers who may engage
in alleged espionage or Strike-break-
ing, both of which normally could
be offenSeS under State law
To add Federal authority to that
of the States so as to eXterminate
crime or fraud has long been recog-
nized as proper supplement, but,
in the matter of economic regulation,
the line has been drawn between the
rights of the States to make their
rules as to what happens in busi-
nesses inside their borders and the
right of the Federal Government to
regulate the movement of goods.
Authority Extended.
Today however, the Federal au-
thority reaches farther than ever be-
fore, because before the goods start
into interstate commerce some Fed
eral bureau or commission can ex-
press an opinion as to ultimate
destination of the product and also
as to the effects which the move
ment of the goods or products might
have on interstate commerce as a
whole
Under the Fascist systems of gov
ernment in Europe, local authority
has disappeared and the central
state has jurisdiction over all COM
merce 1t has been popularly be-
lieved in America that the Fascist
system could not be introduced into
the United States without violating
the Constitution, but the latest de-
cisions of the Supreme Court say
that the Federal authority is su-
preme over economic matters and
that, under the guise of regulation
of interstate commerce" almost any
kind of authority can now be exer-
cised by Congress.
There would not be so much criti-
cism if Congress really did the legis-
lating and made rules for the con-
duct of interstate commerce. This
would be democratic process. But,
under the present system, the Con-
gress delegates almost unlimited au-
thority to the executive bureaus.
Thus the Chief Executive is given,
through his agencies and bureaus,
virtual control of the lawmaking
process as Congress shirks its re-
sponsibility. One-man rule today is
not the result of so much of one
mans ambition as the complete
breakdown of congressional inde-
pendence.