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Show News Review of Current Events the World Over Supreme Court Finds AAA Unconstitutional Democrats Demo-crats Pick Philadelphia for Convention Bonus Measure Is Pushed Through House. By EDWARD W. PICKARD Western Newspaper Union. SrX Justices of the United Suites Supreme court, InHuiliri!,' Chief Justice Hughes, Joined in nn oiininn that killed the Agricultural Adjust-merit Adjust-merit net. Three as- .. 1 buclate Justices, I :.f; ? Stone, I'nindeis and . . ardozo, dissented, i -..-5. 4 ''he majority decl- .? i'-Jt sion, read by Asso-l Asso-l I .j; elate Justice Owen ! J Itoherts, held ':3i that the AAA .was f ' wholly unconstltu- 4 . ' tlonal because It tii -.'jl ',,v:lllld the rights of the ata:es In Cn.ef Justice fit,(.klnB (() C(jmrul Hughes fnrm production. The whole system of' processing taxes Imposed to finance the program pro-gram was swept Into discard. Not only are the processing taxes Illegal but the court apparently declared de-clared the farm benelit contracts void und put up bars against any attempt of the federal government to regulate farm production by whatever means. Senators and representatives who Immediately began planning legislation legis-lation to continue benelit payments to farmers and to balance agricultural agricul-tural output did not seem to grasp the full signilicance of this part of the decision. The court said flatly that regulation of farm production Is not within the scope of the federal fed-eral government and of Its powers to accomplish this, nor can It purchase pur-chase adherence to a control scheme by federal payments. The decision destroyed not only the original AAA but also the amended act of the last session of congress. The dissenting opinion held that the AAA was a legitimate employment employ-ment of the power to tax for the general welfare. It attacked the theory that the preservation of our institutions is the exclusive concern of the Supreme court and suggested that under the majority decision the unemployment work relief act Is unconstitutional. un-constitutional. AAA Administrator Chester Davis stopped all payments to farmers "until further notice," and the Treasury department ordered all collectors of internal revenue to desist de-sist from further efforts to collect processing taxes. In his budget message President Koosevelt included revenue from processing taxes, so the Supreme court decision had the effect of throwing the 10o7 budget still further out of balance by something like a billion dollars. IN HIS speech at the $,"i0 a plate Jackson day dinner in Washington, Washing-ton, President Koosevelt declined to comment on the Supreme court decision killing the AAA. '"It is enough to say," he said, "that the attainment of Justice and prosperity prosper-ity for American agriculture remains re-mains an immediate and constant objective of my administration." Secretary Wallace called Into consultation nt Washington about 100 representatives of farm organizations organ-izations to try to formulate some plan for speedy legislation to supplant sup-plant the discredited law. Assurance Assur-ance that farmers who have fulfilled ful-filled contract agreements would be paid was given by President Koosevelt when he advised administration admin-istration lenders In congress to push through a $250,0(10.000 appropriation. ap-propriation. Claritication of the status of $1,200,000,000 paid In taxes by processors pro-cessors was expected when the court decides the eight rice processing proc-essing tax cases argued recently. Legal experts In congress said an act of congress would be required if the $!7!),OO0,000 in processing taxes paid Into the treasury are to be refunded. Disposition of the $200,XIO,000 processing taxes impounded im-pounded In federal courts probably will hinge on decision in the rice cases. A UCTIONED off to the highest bidder, the Democratic national na-tional convention of 1!.",G was sold to Philadelphia by the party's national committee. The price was 5200,000, plus some prizes and concessions. Chicago and San Francisco also bid for the convention. conven-tion. The former offered n certified certi-fied check for S1.10.IKIO. The California Cali-fornia city made the same hid and later raised It to S202.."0O. During a brief recess Chairman Farley telephoned, presumably to the White House, and Vice President Presi-dent Garner moved among members mem-bers of the committee urging the selection of Philadelphia. There fore the City of P.rotherly I.ovo won the prize. The opening of the convention was set for June 2;!, two weeks after the Iiepublic-an Iiepublic-an convention In Cleveland. -JO TIMIC was lost in putting ' through the house the bonus measure that had been agreed upon by veterans' organizations and approved by the ways and means committee. It carries the name of the Vlnson-Pntmnn-Mc-Cormack bill and Is a coiuproinl.se that authorizes immediate payment of the bonus but offers no definite plan for raising the money. It would provide 3 per cent Interest mull lll.- for veterans refraining from cashing their adjusted service serv-ice certificates at once, and cancel nil Interest still due on loans on the certificates. WITH the obvious Intention of building u; public sentiment in favor of the special brand of neutrality legislation lie desires, . .j,. Senator Nye had ' before his senate j .- ' munitions commit- si tee for several t; 'TZ ' tI:'ys J- I. Morgan, ; ! Thomas W. I.a- .; ' mont and other ; x ' members of the great Morgan " banking company. Y - , Nye nn' ste!)llca LL'L J1A K'luschenbusch, in- , vestigator for the J. P. Morgan. ... , . " committee, sought to prove that the United States was drawn into the World war by the loans made to the allies by Morgan & Co. and its associates. The testimony concerning these loans and their Implications was long and complicated. The financiers were well prepared for the inquiry and were armed with a great quantity quan-tity of documents, and though there was a good deal of acrimonious acrimo-nious talk, Mr. Morgan appeared entirely unperturbed. WHEN the delegates to the naval conference In London resumed their deliberations Admiral Admir-al Osami Nagano, chief representative represen-tative of Japan, firmly repeated his demand that Great Britain and the United States concede the parity-claims parity-claims of Japan as preliminary to any agreement. This attitude stopped all discussion of the British, Brit-ish, French and Italian proposal for exchange of Information about naval building plans and threatened threat-ened the conference with early collapse. col-lapse. The crisis was so serious that Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden himself took a part In the affair, af-fair, calling the Japanese to his office in an attempt to Induce them to adopt a more conciliatory attitude. atti-tude. Japanese spokesmen declared they were Interested first and last in the total tonnage question under un-der which they demand equality and were not at all interested In other aspects of naval limitations to which t lie conference sought to turn. OURROUNDED by lilies lights, microp'irnes and movie cameras, cam-eras, President Roosevelt stood before be-fore the senate and house in night joint session and delivered what was s nominally his an- . ' 'j nual message on i the state of the na- 1. . tion. Actually It VfJ was not that at all, l "t but a statement con- i s corning the welfare and international grf ; disturbances on the fL other continents ', followed bv what the press generally President considered an elo- Rsevelt quent and militant political speech addressed to the people of the United Unit-ed States, who by the millions were listening in on their radios. Democrats and Republicans alike commended the President's opening paragraph In which he boldly condemned con-demned the aggression of Italy and Japan, though without naming those nations; and there was little dissent dis-sent from his assertion that the United States must .maintain Its neutrality while seeking to "discourage "discour-age the use by belligerent nations of any and all American products calculated to facilitate the prosecution prosecu-tion of a war in quantities over and above our normal exports to them in time of peace." The remainder of the message, devoted to domestic affairs, was devoted de-voted chielly to a belligerently worded defense of the New Deal measures of the administration, an attack on those who oppose them and a spirited passage In which Mr. Koosevelt delied and dared his critics crit-ics to move for the repeal of those measures instead of "hiding their dissent in a cowardly cloak of generality." gen-erality." In only two paragraphs did the President dwell on "the slate of the nation." In these he said that after nearly three years of the New Deal national Income Is increasing, agriculture and Industry Indus-try are "returning to full activity." ami "we approach a balance of the national budget." That last statement state-ment was greeted with mocking laughter from the Republican side of the chamber, and though the democrats cheered loudly, Mr. Koosevelt himself smiled at his words. "TplIOUGII the rainy season that will check his campaign Is fast approaching Mussolini continued to send fresh troops by the thousands thou-sands to Ethiopia. It was estimated estimat-ed that Italy's East African forces already numbered more than 2-r0,-000, and there were reports that 100,000 more would be sent in the near future. The Ethiopian government, accusing accus-ing Italy of continued employment of poison gas in a policy of "merciless "merci-less extermination" of the Ethiopian Ethiopi-an people, urged the League of Nations Na-tions to dispatch a commission of Inquiry to the scene of strife. League olficials announced that the request would be handled by the league council, which meets January 20. CECRETARY of Labor Frances Perkins found In the developments develop-ments of the last year much of benefit ben-efit for the American working-man. working-man. In her annual r,wr min. report she cited . I . these five great nd- vancements for la- VjZ bor; 1. Unemployment f compensation, ac v, " complished through 1 the social security ft act. ,, 2. Old-age secur " Ity, brought about -Vvj also by the social . security act Secretary 3. Establishment Perk,ns of boards for settling Industrial disputes dis-putes locally. 4. Greater co-operation between the states and the Labor department, depart-ment, through regional conferences. 5. Development of the United States employment service. Even the" large number of strikes during 11)35 could be viewed with some satisfaction by her, for she said they were "due in part to the natural expectation of labor to slinre in the early fruits of business Improvement." For the future Miss Perkins envisioned envi-sioned a minimum wage law, a short work week of perhaps 40 hours, compensation insurance, and strict regulation of machinery to prevent industrial accidents. IN HIS" message to congress submitting sub-mitting his approved budget for the 1037 fiscal year, beginning July 1 next, President Roosevelt followed the double system of accounting his administration has always employed one set of books for regular expenditures ex-penditures and income and another set for emergency spending and appropriations. ap-propriations. He asserted that receipts re-ceipts from all sources in the next fiscal year will aggregate an estimated esti-mated $5,654,000,000. Expenditures for nil regular government departments depart-ments are estimated at $5,649,000,-000. $5,649,000,-000. So the "regular" budget will be In balance, with a surplus of $5,000,000. But the message went on to say, after explaining that the regular government gov-ernment books will show fiscal affairs af-fairs in the black, as to income and outgo, they will show red to the extent of $1,103,000,000 in works-relief works-relief spending, less the $5,000,000 "surplus," this leaving the new appropriation ap-propriation for further works-relief open for at least two months. That figure of $1,103,000,000 represents repre-sents the President's estimate of unexpended balances on July 1 f rom the $4,SS0,0O,000 and previous eraer-ge;i-y appropriations. It does not take into account probable new appropriations ap-propriations for similar purposes yet to be determined. TTAROLD L. ICKES, In his ca- - pacity of administrator of the PWA, went to Brooklyn to take part In the ceremony of breaking ground for the $12,- .ctt-- - 7S3.000 Williams- Kr. j burg slum c 1 e a r- f"5'. j ance project, and f took the opportu- - i nity to speak very v f harshly about those " who oppose the New '& Deal, dubbing them , fi "the coupon clip- s "iJ'' ping gentry," "the " - - ; Lord Plushbottoms 1 1&iuJi of the club win- , , , , . , .. ... Harold L. dows, nnd "reac- tionists" who 13 "shout that enlightened progress is unconstitutional." "The slum Is but one vicious product of that old order whose passing, we hope, is at hand," Mr. Ickes said. "I refer to the old order or-der of special privilege, the creator and upholder of a social system containing con-taining vicious contrasts of opulence opu-lence and squalor that have shamed the democracy of our own times. Its day In America is facing the i westering sun, but the harsh cracklings crack-lings of Its senile prophets are still heard in opposition to every progressive proposal; predicting disaster for every humanitarian attempt at-tempt to ameliorate the lot of the least fortunate of our people. "There are those who take an al-. most sadistic delight in dashing the hoies of our underprivileged citizens by 111-advisedly proclaiming proclaim-ing that the public housing program of PWA is a failure. The facts prove the contrary. Somewhere a housing program had to be started. The federal government took the Initiative. "We have 47 active projects on our demonstration program, all under un-der construction. Eleven thousand persons are already enjoying the splendid modern accommodations of limited dividend housing projects financed by PWA, and the first federal fed-eral developments will be occupied early In the spring." |