Evening star., 1940-10-06
Supreme Court Term
Starts Tomorrow;
Major Cases Faced
U.S.. Seeks Review Of
S2,270,000 Award on
World War Contract
BY J. A. FOX.

adjournment was IdkeI Ill Jullt
the remainder are the summer &C
emulation.
The opening session will be brief
Convening at noon, the justices will
hear motions, then adjourn until the
following Monday At that time Or
ders will be handed down announc-
ing the disposition of the huge vol
ume of pending petitions. and argu-
ment will be started
Overshadowing the other cases be-
cause of its bearing on the current
defense program is the Government
application for a review of an ap-
pellate court decision holding that
the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp
is entitled to collect $5,270.00O addi-
tional on World War shipbuilding
contracts on which $ll3,000,000 al
ready has been paid Alleging that
there was no other alternative than
to meet Bethlehem's terms because
of the pressing need for tonnage,
the Government contends now that
the contracts were extortionate and
seeks both to be relieved from fur
ther payments and to recover part
OF the money the company has COL
lected
Opinion to Guide Policy.
The Justice Department, it has
been said by Attorney General Jack
son, looks to the outcome of the
present litigation to shape the Gov.
ernment's course in proceeding I'M
der the Conscription Act provision
that permits industries to be taken
over for defense production when
satisfactory terms cannot be nego-
tiated.
Coming up also will be the first
test of the constitutionality of the
Wage-Hour Act The court already
has agreed to pass on one case in
which the law, challenged by the
F. w. Darby Lumber Co. of States
boro, Ga. was declared unconSti-
tutional by Federal District Court
in Savannah. A group of southern
cotton mills and the Southern Cot
ton Manufacturing Association now
are attacking the application of the
act to the textile industry, and the
Montgomery Ward Co. is contesting
the right of the Wage and Hour
Division, which administers the law
to compel the production of records
for a routine inspection when there
has been no allegation of a violation.
If the court follows its usual custom.
the three cases will be consolidated.
A showdown also impends on one
phase of the Government drive to
end abuses in the building industry
through antitrust law prosecution,
and the constitutionality of the 20
year-old Federal Water Power Act
will be decided in another case that
has been hanging fire since 1885
when the Appalachian Electric Pow
er Co. pushed ahead with a $ll,00O,- :
600 development on the New River,
in southwestern Virginia, without
complying with licensing require
ments set up by the Federal Power
Commission.
La oOt Vase vi SSTISS.
The labor case is the first of the
Nation wide series prosecuted by
the Government that has reached
the Supreme Court. 1t involved
William L. Hutcheson. international
president of the carpenters union,
and member of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor's executive council.
and three other union officers who
are charged with striking, picketing
and urging boycott of Anheuser-
Busch beer. as result of a jurisdic-
tional row with the machinistS'
union Of the A. F. of L. at the An
heuser- Busch plant in St. Louis.
Federal District Court quashed the
of the four on the ground
that the union was exercising its
rights in the dispute, and the Gov
ernment appealed
Labor litigation is occupying a
prominent spot on the new docket.
Unions are appealing from picketing
bans in Illinois and Ohio and num-
Der of labor board cases also are
scheduled. In several of these. in
one involving Republic Steel,
the companies are appealing from
the boards ruling that Government
relief agencies must be reimbursed
for funds paid to strikers where
labor troubles reputedly were caused
by unfair practices by management.
Another issue to be decided is the
right of the board to require en-
plovers to make written agreements
with employees. the H. J. Heinz Co.
fighting ruling to this effect.
Earl Browder, secretary of the
Communist party and its current
candidate for President. is asking
the court to review his conviction in
New York on a passport fraud charge
for which he was sentenced to prison
for four years and fined S25OO, while
Harry Bridges, West Coast labor
leader who has been accused of
being Communist, already has won
a review of contempt conviction,
which will be argued shortly.
Another issue before the court is
the constitutionality of the Penn
sylvania alien registration law. this
having particular interest because
of the new Federal law requiring
aliens to register and be finger
printed. A three Judge district court
said the Pennsylvania act was un-
constitutional
The Government Is making a new
attempt to pierce the wire-tappine
barrier set up by the Supreme Court
by seeking to validate evidence con-
sisting of a telephone conversation
recorded by Federal agents with the
authorization of one party to the
conversation. on the contention that
this is not ''interception' within the
meaning of the Federal Communica-
ton Act.
Taxes, both Federal and State, as
usual, are presenting many ques.
tions to the court, while on thu
lighter side, it must say if a trade
association violated the Fedora,
Trade Act by taking steps to combat
style piracy in women's hats.
Chief Justice Hughes returned
several days ago from his summer
vacation in Canada. New England
and Pennsylvania. He was described