Show 0 I 1 national topics interpreted by william bruckart national press building washington D C i I 1 washington president roosevelt stated to the newspaper correspondents in his press wants want crop conference the oth control back er day that crop control must be trough back he said it with some emphasis within a few days before that he be had given his approval to a till placing a minimum on wages ond nd a maximum on hours in which labor gabor could work in industries whose productions enter into interstate commerce the president was not specific as 40 0 o details of the legislation in either case but it is important to note that tie lie has reaffirmed his position on these two principles for it is to be remembered that both the and 1 the he AAA were thrown out by the supreme court a long time ago and ithe ithe president seeks now to restore them in another form this circumstance would seem to confirm assertions that have been knade in various quarters lately that ve ithe president wants to maintain a planned economy for this country it would seem that he is de it to go ahead along those lines and that his program for reorganizing gan izing the supreme court was a part r d parcel of the scheme in other iother words the presidents new declaration about crop control cottrol and wages pages and hours and his support of pe khe wagner housing bill represent a return to the original theories which tie held for remaking our nation after discussing these circumstances circumstances pro and con with proponents its s w well ell as opponents in the con iress gress the conclusion is inescapable that teat mr roosevelt and his advisers ze are headed into new ground they evidently to make the federal government the most important factor in our national life and to set side aside little by little the functions of state and local governments by their course of action undoubtedly there is strong argument for the policies they have adopted certainly there are many functions which the national government can perform more effectively and more efficiently than they can be performed by state governments and equally it is true that some phases of our national life should not be subjected to the influence of state lines on the other hand there suie surely is valid reason why washington bureaucrats should not be allowed to interfere in the daily practices and convictions of individuals the reason I 1 believe all of this Is so important now is that always there has been a tendency of federal functions to expand to say this in another way federal officials from the lowest to the highest est seem to be equipped with a particular faculty for delegating to themselves additional authority as eoon as they are accorded power the country should fear then it seems to me is the steady encroachment croach ment upon the rights of states and thereafter the rights of individuals perhaps I 1 should have reversed iversen the order and should have paid first f encroachment upon the rights eights of individuals and second thereafter encroachment upon the rights fights of states now there are those persons in considerable number who believe sincerely tince rely that the federal government is the agency through which all public functions should operate I 1 cannot agree rather long experience peri ence in washington c convinces on vinces fie that the old old argument for tale state rights so 60 long one of the tenets of the democratic party has too IWO much merit to be overthrown without consideration for the effects cf af the new theories it may be that human nature has changed enough to accept new theories and live but I 1 am quite convinced that human nature does not change so fast to get down to cases in application on of the principles discussed i above let us con wages Wage sand and sider the wages hows hours bill and hours bill that measure shows how this encroachment takes ilace and gives a rather clear picture I 1 of the expansive nature ot of federal aral policies i 1 the wages and hours bill first creates a labor standards board it is circumscribed by certain lielia limitations tons which say that it c cannot annot fix wages above forty cen cents ts per hour nor ca can n at it reduce the number of working 9 hours per week below forty further a great number of lines of work are exempted from juri juristic asdic pon of the board work of a season tal fit character farm labor labor in certain specified industries which ob obviously bously cannot be subject to regu bation without destruction of th the e business itself besides these re there is an implied ing fag in the bill against r udden sudden or abrupt changes in business practices that would dial dislocate acate ocate industrial operation or curtail employment these de limitations would seem to leave the board without a great deal of authority such however is not the case among those industries remaining under jurisdiction of the board there is yet as muc much h power as obtained under end and its it codes which were so hidebound and so inelastic that thousands of firms were in open rebellion against st t th restrictions unless they were able to pass on the higher costs resulting from these restrictions to the public that is unless they could make the consumer pay the added cost they faced eventual bankruptcy I 1 do not say that the labor standards board as now conceived will go as far as the codes but experience with the present national I 1 labor relations board indicates that the public should expect the maximum exercise of power instead of any middle of the road policies the labor relations board has become a festering sore on private initiative business interests every everywhere here while being pounded on the back by the administration to employ more workers are kept in a constant state of confusion by the bias of the board this is the board which was designed by senator wagner of new york to maintain peace between labor and employers it if the labor standards board can use discretionary powers accorded it and can proceed in correcting abuses abuse s of labor as rapidly as is economically feasible it may be able to develop better conditions in industry but such language as the words 1 economically no feasible are subject to all kinds of interpretation and if the membership of the labor standards board happens to include some radical labor leader most anything win will be economically feasible it is from such quirks of law that bureaucrats expand their powers 0 0 but there is yet another phase of this policy that demands consideration while the another united states is s phase one unit under the federal govern g 0 v e r n ment it is made up of a number of sectional units and each sectional unit comprises a number of states and even each state in some cases embraces subdivisions where practices in business and living traditions are as different as day and night A regulation as to the fairness of hours or wages in new england may be and probably would be wholly inapplicable in alabama or georgia A regulation that would oper operate a te s satisfactorily a t in pennsylvania may be and probably would be completely completely sour in the pacific coast states yet this board cannot administer its regulations on a piecemeal piece meal basis they must apply to the whole country and it is only fair to assume from the existing facts that whereas rulings may be advantageous to some sections of labor they might completely destroy other sections of labor the same results can be expected from the effects of these rulings on the employers except that where the effect is adverse on employers businesses can be driver driven into bankruptcy and the jobs they provided disappear I 1 think there can be no denying that no law will be successful unless it has the operation cooperation co the active support of a very large majority of the people if proof be needed it is only necessary to recall how the prohibition laws were not enforced in those areas where public sympathy with them was lacking it does not require very much time to determine whether a law is popular during the life of the those who opposed such impossible regulations as general hugh johnson dictated were branded by president roosevelt at first as chiselers it was a biting criticism yet within a few months there were more chiselers than there were those who believed that the law could possibly be made to work I 1 am very much afraid that there will be more chiselers under the wages and hours law than there are those who believe in its efficacy the initial 0 operations pert of the board and the law probably will not create a 2 great deal of 0 both D 1 sides cj c j agaes dissension but will ruch buck there will be disgruntled groups of workers and there ther a will be dissatisfied employers rs who will sek seek exemption or changes or special consideration s ide ration by r regulation in some cases obviously the board will issue new rules As likely as not those new rules will upset some other group or region or section and they will demand consideration just here it might be recalled how under the AAA crop control law wheat cotton and corn were originally considered but tobacco had to have protection and rice and potatoes and peanuts and every other farm product had its champions eions battling tor for consideration before the supreme court held that the law with its processing taxes was an invalid dele delegation delegatto gatio n of power by congress therefore while I 1 may be 4 seeing things concerning the labor standards board and the new proposal tor for crop control the records surely support my statement that anytime the federal government star starts t a new policy it begins at the same time to enable expansion of federal power far beyond the original concept of a program C Neww osper union |