Show 0 C national topics interpreted by william bruckart national press building D C washington Washing tOD it appears that atlant at basl all of those questions as to whether the national indus fra up to trial le ic covery net Is are going to be answered by the supreme court of the united states that Is they will be answered by a supreme court decision unless the moving spirits in NIIA decide again to dodge the issue as they once have done sometime ago W B E belcher an alabama lumberman ran afoul of a national recovery administration code ruling and he wits was promptly prosecuted lower courts decided adversely to the government however and the lawyers decided to appeal they wanted a supreme court decision cut but before the case readied reached the stage of argument before the highest court in the land the department of justice suddenly withdrew the petition and announced its refusal to prosecute mr air belcher any further there immediately was set up a far flung cry accusing the and the department of justice of being afraid of a constitutional test legal brains of the department of justice stood pat and offered no explanation but train brain tr usters let it be known th that at they preferred to avoid a test at this time because of the imminent expiration of the industrial recovery act acl they pointed out that the law expires june 10 16 and that congress is now engaged in consideration of 0 a revision the implication was that the believed a test in the r elcher belcher case was a waste of time and money because of the probability that a supreme court decision would not be handed down until after the present law was no longer operative now however the authorities think they have found the right kind of a case tor for a constitutional test they have announced they will light fight mohave to have the act declared constitutional in a case in which the live poultry market of brooklyn N T Y Is accused of violating the poultry code so instead of trying out the constitutional question on boards the brain tr usters are seeking a decision on the hen the whole situation Is regarded by observers as being much confused and aej no one seems to know exactly what Is behind the sudden reversal of position on the part of and the department of justice lawyers except a good many folks think the could not stand the gair gaff of countrywide editorial criticism it Is true that after abandonment of the belcher case was announced noun ced nearly every important metropolitan ro newspaper in the country printed editorial comment about the action and little of it was favorable to the examined from this viewpoint then there are some ome r who believe the administration was goaded into a constitutional test of politically the department of justices determination to avoid a test in the belcher case already Is having repercussions barbs and backbiting back biting are coming not alone from republican antagonists but from among democrats in congress as well senator hastings a delaware republican and senator clark a missouri democrat joined in an effort to have attorney general cummings cummungs reverse his position and urged upon the head of the department of justice the necessity for clarification of legal questions involved the administrations position also has drawn fire from republican leader snell in the house and there are in that body also certain of the so called progressives progress ives who have charged that president roosevelt Is unwilling to face the music in the belcher case economically the decision to retrain refrain from pressing the belcher case for final adjudication by the supreme court has caused a wave of uncertainty to permeate the business structure what the end Is going to be even donald Rl chberg number one man an in MIA has avoided saying since he has not enunciated policies his subordinates are afraid to move consequently quent ly according to some of the let now DOW going out from the to business interests the whole question of codes and their enforcement frank y can be said to be up in the air 0 if the NIIA can be said to be up in the air the agricultural adjustment administration can be AAA in said to be a rudder trouble less ship there Is no longer any doubt that AAA policy Is 13 confused cont used not to say floundering about in helpless fashion it has reached the stage where delegations and individuals are arriving in increasing numbers to wait on the doorstep of secretary wallace and administrator davis tor for advice as to what the program Is it ought to be said lust just here that mr wallace and mr davis are showing signs of 0 irritation and that Is always significant it was only the other day that a group of farm organization leaders came in to washington to tell mr wallace how the department de apartment Part ment of agriculture must do something to enable farmers in the areas that were drouth stricken to plant crops they pointed out the necessity for or quick action because crops must be planted within the next few weeks they did lot top stop there however but added ponts points of criticism about AAA policy this so irked sir mr wallace that lie be announced abruptly that the interview was closed the secretary was quoted by members of the delegation as having inquired whether the roosevelt administration had not done more for farmers than any previous administration lie ile was reported also to have said lie he did not dot like the attitude or the spirit which N the visitors displayed in their conversations with him the result was that tha t the farm leaders went away from the vast building housing the department of agriculture with a decidedly bad taste in their mouths and the prediction Is heard frequently now DOW that these men will nili cause much trouble for mr wallace hereafter by telling their stories among the horn home folks I 1 think it Is generally conceded that economical and political numskulls num skulls may be found in positions of responsibility among farm organizations but after all they serve as something of a leadership for groups that speak for agriculture and when mr wallace becomes angered by their criticism of his administration serious trouble for him lies not so far ahead such circumstances as the one just mentioned usually are accepted ns as indicating a thin skin on the part of a public official and that hat condition Is nearly always fatal it t ruined herbert hoover 0 0 around the halls balls of congress also there Is increasing criticism 0 mr wallace and it Is of criticise criticism Critic ise a character to under wallace mine s him lt if lt it continues when such stalwart democrats as senator george of georgia describes a cabinet officer as 88 being unfit tor for the office he holds the situation as regards that individual necessarily becomes precarious the controversies that are centering around secretary wallace naturally are having their reaction on his legislative proposals it Is my understanding that considerable difficulty Is faced by the amendments to the adjustment act which the secretary desires to have passed at this session of congress these amendments are described by the secretary as being designed to strengthen the adjustment act and accord uie the AAA more power in enforcement it seems seeing however a certain bloc in congress holds bolds the conviction that there Is already sufficient lelent power in mr wallaces hands nod and those members are growing resentful toward proposals delegating more authority to him the recent house cleaning which resulted in elimination of certain of the brain trustees tr usters in the department of agriculture and its stepchild the AAA had bad a wholesome effect on relationship between the department of agriculture and congress as a whole yet in some quarters it appears the house cleaning did not remove all of the stigma with which oppositionists have stained the administrations farm policies with reference to the house clean ing it should be said just here that another move Is in the mat mating making ing prof rexford guy tugwell the present undersecretary der of agriculture Is slated to be de horned insofar as farm recovery policies are concerned when president roosevelt gets his hands on the five billiou billion voted in the public works relief bill professor tugwell will be given charge of something like nine hundred millions to spend in a way that Is variously described as scientific his job will be to sort out lands that are productive from those that are mediocre ocre or without value at all in agriculture and to find uses for those which should not be used as farm landi lanag I 1 believe it Is not too much to say that conditions la in the KRA and AAA have added to the hon honeymoon 0 on general uncertainty Is ended concerning the political and economic outlook of the administration in this connection it should be mentioned that the republicans are showing signs of life for instance republican republica i leader snell took a shot at president roosevelt the other day that indicates a forthcoming deluge of criticism of him personally for the first time since he entered the white house the volume of mail being received on capitol hill tells its story as well members of the house and senate are be beginning inning to inquire of each other what their political course should be in view of the type of inquiries that are now being received through many months the personal charm of the president has seemed to prevent expressions of a critical nature and certainly has held oft off complaints from the business section of the country certainly those who have money invested were not being told about future plans it seems now however that the honeymoon for which mr Roose roosevelt asked has ended and that henceforth it will be a battle of realities the most direct attack upon the president and upon the new deal came from representative james wadsworth a new york republican republica i mr wadsworth stressed uncertainty in tact fact he called it one of the three or tour four major evils of the admInis tra alon 1 16 western newspaper union |