Show 0 0 v national topics interpreted by william 13 washington P D C national Na llona press Bull bulliung cung washington what of 0 the future that one ot of where are we ve going now the keystones ot of the what to be new deal the nadone now nowa dional recovery Ke covery ad ministration has been largely outlawed the national capital neier tins has witnessed such confusion even in the midst ot of the world war as has prevailed availed hero here since the supreme court ot of the united states had bad its final say as to tile the of the NKA and frahler lem lomke k e f farm a r n i m mortgage 0 rt ag moratorium in orlum law the lack ot of constitutional authority for if 0 r the ali e frazier I 1 P r aizie r lembe L e m le law was recognized by many man y but until the highest court in the land had spoken 0 k e n concerning co n e r D in NKA A ieva were 2 dp divided iv 1 d e d and n d ti the i e B blue aue eagle U a e continued to fly albeit in a lower circle new dealers generally were c confident on to the last they appeared to expect some unseen force to guide the supreme court in upholding the fantastic program which they h had ad devised and which the president made a part of I 1 ils his new den deal plans for eco economic rec recovery biery the adverse ruling rulina made mad e them sick at the stomach most 0 of f them have not yet recovered nence hence confusion continues to reign you have heard much discussion in the past two weeks as to how the breath of life may again be breathed into the blue eagle As far as I 1 have been able to gather from authoritative quarters in washington there Is nothing left to do but perform the funeral ceremonies for the ill fated bird and the so called na national dional plan which it represented the reports of presidential conferences of meetings of statesmen and exec of the administration of this plan and that plan and statements and expressions expression express io us of opinion respecting the future course mean absolutely nothing when the supreme court said that the congress had bad unlawfully delegated to the president to draft codes of fair practice and enforce them upon private business it tool took away the heart and nerve centers of the structure on top of this body blow the NKA INRA principle is looked upon in many quarters and by men who nho know and understand tile the problems of government as being thoroughly discredited in the public mind it Is not too much to say that when a national law lair does not hold the confidence of the bulk of the people its usefulness has ceased so it was with the prohibition amendment equally I 1 believe it can be stated if opinion of statesmen of long training can be trusted no attempts to revise the NISA will get to first base even the brain trust movement to obtain amend amendment mont of the federal constitution making such laws as nita proper can win countrywide country wide support enough indications already have become visible to warrant a statement that the summer more hope months will see chis for future eling price cutting and other nefarious and improper business practices going on and that these will be disastrous to countless business interests the congress will strive in a halfhearted half hearted fashion to offset tile the loss of strength and prestige suffered by the new deal at the hands of the supreme court but the effort plainly will be only halfhearted so it Is made to appear that the country must submit for several months at least to a bad condition after that it if the opinions of 0 expert experienced men are worth while lille there ought to be a substantial change for the better careful surveys close ex ambia lions alons of the problems at hand and candid thinking has brought to unbiased observers the conclusion that there Is more hope for the future now as regards the economic situation than there was while the blue eagle continued to soar and ballyhoo artists continued to preach about its powers to restore prosperity I 1 believe this statement which Is the consensus ought to be tempered with one su es tion there Is likely to be a restoration of confidence generally it if tile the administration turns ast aside de from brain trust theories and employs the practical instead of the theoretical method ot of government a to the agricultural community the decision invalidating the frazier araa lemke mortgage m 0 r t g just on an moratorium law p idle dream ably S has greater in terest it should not be so the frahler lemke la law fron from the first was an idle dream M s and was predicated upon shortsighted ted under standings ot of basic economic la laws EV ery where I 1 have inquired concerning co the probable end 0 or r result ot of t tl the work ings ot of that statute informed led persons declared it meant eventual I 1 dei destruction of cr credit edit for agriculture supporters of tile the fracter idea cannot lean as do supporters of the principle upon an ac accusation that the law was badly adal administered it was administered according accord ln to the t 11 e farm credit administration in the spirit and letter of its intent yet be cause causa it was fundamentally unsound lt it never could succeed my r own guess Is that the supreme court by V its ruling in this case ha has a rendered a i t great ser v lee ice to american agriculture simmered down the law which was proposed by senator frazier and rep besenta ti ve lemac both of north da kota was de to give purely distressed owners of aid to temporary mortgage farm lands the things which chic h apparently neither nelt lier ot of the co authors foresaw was the effect the temporary arran arrangement ement would have as a to the future ny by this I 1 mean that for example it if a farmer wants to buy a home and had only a small amount of cash he be must borrow money from someone else it if the holder bolder of that money mincy 11 were ere made to feel that at any time lm e during the life ot of that mortgage te congress confess con ress c could pass pasi a law telling tho the lender nd er he could not force payment ot of the alio debt few there would be who would he be willing willin to lend their money it Is not human nature to lend money unless there Is a reasonable assurance that it v III be repaid thus it seems beema to me the frazier lemke law contained elements of danger that were overlooked in th the stress ot of depressed conditions As laws now st stand lenders of capital will lsd have some al assurance s ra nee t that hat the lie security they take will continue to lie be security and that the individual who borrows whether he be the owner ot of a farm or t the e owner of a business in town either w will ill 11 make mahe payments on the principal or surrender the property perhaps the worst blow dealt president roosebelt Roo personally was the supreme court decision the worst which held that the tha blow presidential power did not extend to removal 0 of f a federal trade Commis commission member except for the reasons prescribed in the law itself it will be remembered I 1 that hat mr roosevelt forcibly ousted the late william E D humphrey from commission membership because it was openly stated at the time mr humphrey was a conservative republican slid and he therefore did not s see ey eye a to eye with the president and his new deal plans mr humphrey sued the gove government rement for the salary for ills his term after his death his executors carried on the litigation which has just now been decided in their favor it is the principle involved here that Is important the federal trade commission was set up as a quasi judicial body one end endowed oed with powers to regulate against improper business practices and to determine the propriety of general business dealings where those dealings affected countrywide country wide business or the interests of the public it takes no stretch of the imagination to see how presidential interference with anith the commission personnel would result in changes of commission policy one business practice might be held proper by a commission whose majority was conservative while that same practice would be considered illegal by a commission dominated by a liberal or radical membership it becomes obvious then that if tile the president were permitted to disturb the he personnel of the com commission miss ion especially judges there could be no continuity of policy and business itself would hardly know from day to day darthen then it was abiding by the law or when it was not several months ago I 1 recall I 1 reported to you in these columns something in the nature AAA comes of a prediction that next the supreme court would become better known to the general public before the current administration had ended than it had been known since it rendered the famous dred scott decision in civil war days it was a perfectly obvious circumstance sooner or later the questions of a constitutional nature involved in the new deal procedure obviously were going to be tested in court now I 1 feel warranted in reporting that the bl highest hest court again will b be e in the public eye the next momentous decision likely to como come from the bench of the nine austere justices will be a ruling affecting the agricultural adjustment administration and therefore of vital import to the american farmer there will be other cases involving new deal plans of course but their importance cannot possibly be as great as any decision affecting the AAA because it Is an integral part of tile the new deal program for recovery there Is no do possibility of a ruling on any AAA questions before next october no test cases have yet reached the supreme court for argument but there are halt half a dozen wending their slow way through minor courts consideration by the supreme court eventually is of course certain because they involve constitutional questions notwithstanding the fact that a supreme court decision on the AAA Is considerably sider ably distant it Is to be noted that after tile the was outlawed there was considerable scurrying around among AAA officials fresh consideration was given to many points of law over which there Is doubt amendments which the AAA have asked congress to enact to str strengthen e dath 0 n th the 0 original adjustment act were suddenly withdrawn 7 from the senate e floor by th those enose who sponsored them the reason given elveD was that there were imperfections which reason should 8 be corrected acted the real reason for r the action was fear acar of sudden de coorn development i of 0 alti sat atlon lon over the controvert ed points 0 western newspaper Newa paper union |