Evening star., 1940-12-13

Jay Franklin. veltian message
which will veto the Walter-Logan
bill to regulate the Federal agencies.
At this point, the reader is warned
that there is no way of predetermin-
ing the sex Of presidential Veto
For example, when the first Hatch
pure politics bill was in the White
House maternity ward, l had every
reason TO anticipate twins in the
form of a masculine veto Of the
measure accompanied by little
sister which would indorse the prin-
ciple of outlawing Objectionable
political practices. But when Ole
Doc Roosevelt emerged with his
little black bag it was just a girl
and the bill was signed and became
law and that was that.
In this case of the Walter-Logan
bill. however, all the preliminaries
indicate that Bob Jackson is going
to give the President the legal
opinion, on the strength of which
F. D. R. is going to veto the So
called lawyers delight" to put a
crimp in the Labor Board. the Sc
curities and Exchange Commission
and the Wage-Hour Division of the
Labor Department.
Grounds Seen for Veto.
The grounds on which this veto
will be interposed are expected TO
follow three main lines.
The first is to point out the
numerous agencies which are eX-
cepted from the law II the principle
of regulating the regulators" IS
sound, why should it be applied
chiefly to those agencies i'm
partially?
The second is to note that It Is
contrary to Anglo-Saxon legal ira
ditions and to practical admins
tration to make the courts the judo
of the facts as well as the Judge G
the law Our legal system rests on
the principle of trial by jury, in
which the jury is judge Of the
facts, while the court is Judge OF
the law. No other system has been
found by experience to offer ade-
quate protection to the rights Of all
the parties at interest.
The third reason which may be
advanced in support of the expected
veto of the Walter-Logan bill is that
of sound constitutional law. 1t is
argued that the Supreme Court has
repeatedly invalidated certain acts
of Congress on the ground that they
constituted an improper delegation
of legislative power to the executive.
In the same way. it may be argued
that the Walter-Logan bill consti-
tutes an improper delegation of
executive power to the judicial
branch of our Government. Either
system is held to be repugnant to the
principle of the separation of powers
under the Constitution.
Evidence Bill Will Die.
Much of the criticism leveled
against such an agency as the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board Is that
the board combines the functions of
prosecutor, Judge and jury. This is
because of the belief that the board
is a semi-judicial organization. The
truth would seem to be that the
board is rather in the position of a
District Attorney or a grand jury.
with the duty to indict on prlma
facie evidence of violation of Fed
eral law but with other powers, in
cluding that of nolle pros, to give
f1exibility to its administration. Since
all orders by the board are based on
evidence of refusal to permit COL
lective bargaining by labor and since
there is provision for. appeal to the
courts from Labor Board orders. this
seems to be a fair estimate OF the
function of this and similar regula-
tory agencies.
In any case, there is enough cir
cumstantial evidence in the Depart
ment of Justice to make it fair
bet that the President will veto
this particular bill and that Bob
Jackson has written the opinion on
which the veto will be based. Other
wise, the New Deal might as well
put itself in mothballs and the adj
ministration might as we'll kiss
goodby to national unity and the
support of labor by whose votes it
was reelected last November.
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