Evening Star Newspaper, June 3, 1937, Page 11

THE EVENING What’s Back of It/ All STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY JUNE 3, 19317. We, the People Novel Phrases q"HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among An American Seen Dotting Pay Bill “Delegation Run Riot” | | Held Inadequate to | | Describe It. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. OME of the powers to be granted Charles Edison Credited With Adding Speed to Naval Program, Now Well Under Way. BY H. R. BAUKHAGE. UMMER, beautiful, but cruel as Europe’s growling war dogs, sWept over Washington in time to make tense nerves jiggle like the heat waves that rose from Pennsylvania avenue. Echoes from labor's battle front and the murmur of the some- what sullen industrial world over proposed regulation of hours and wages added to the universal desire to shoot the weather man or anybody nandy. Embassy doorbells jangled and the shadowy corridors of the State Department rang with many feet, but nobody asked what was happening 1o our Navy program while shells dropped Ppromiscuously on the European themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Fate of Court Bill’s Foes BY MARK SULLIVAN. Eight Democratic Senators Face Test at Polls— O’Mahoney’s Dramatic Statement. Senate in 1934 he was suppoced to Relief Polls in Congress Give Roosevelt Chance to “Ear-mark” Rebels. BY JAY FRANKLIN. HE congressional roll call on relief is a political suicide club. Therefore, it is hard for New Dealers to get terribly worked up over ‘he ‘revolt” in the House ol Representatives over the Presicent’s $1,500,000,000 relief bill. This rebellion is iargely of Mr. Roosevelt’s own making, and the insurgents have a good deal of logic, but not much political sense, on their side. Everybody knows that, whatever happens, the needy will not You Should Know L. J. Briggs, Standards Bureau Director, a Real Scientist. BY DELIA PYNCHON. , i be allowed to starve. For there TR National Briredi ot Band by Congress if it &dopts the | powder box. HE Supreme Court has ad- | share Mr. Farley’s notions about will be deficiency relief appropria- | E National Bureail of Stand- Corcoran wage and hour con- It's doing nicely, thank you—and thanks in no small portion to journed. So far as its de- [loyalty to the administration. tions and many Congressmen have SeCser g s lIEnor) Lynian, trol bill are so fantastically | Charles Edison, the business man who was hired to make sailormen like cisions are influences upon Mr. Showed Knowledge of History. thus been lulled into the belief that ;{ Briggs, m;"” the journey difficult to administer that their | business and business men feel a . Roosevelt’s court proposal,| 1In the circumstances, Mr. O'Ma- (e iih GARE O (e o sl eieies presence in Federal legislation would | jjttle more friendly to the Navy. MORE g ! ‘y:‘r;;«g;g:g‘flk there can be no more until October. | honey's declaration against the court Unfortunately, this particular 1\‘"";:;‘ «,.,‘\d\f,r}, r;w’:»‘« liscoveries prosentis wovel SR At Y PLENTTHORE p“ And by October, assuming Mr. Roose- | proposal, at an advanced stage of the sham battle will result in a good | g€ from labors Thus, the Fed- & In parentheses, before we go ICE BOX velt insists on action at this session | fignt, might be attributed either to his many killed and wounded. While o us further, the present strikes in the of Congress, the court proposal wWill | poitical intuition telling him the court Congressmen are car-marking relief Hour Control independent steel plants are not have been voted on—it, is hardly likely Board may be ex- pected to inquire j worrying the Navy Department as far as supplies are concerned. It Congress will continue in session until that month. proposal was not popular, or to his conscience telling him it was not right. funds for pork-barrel purposes, the administration is ear-marking the a 1 yar stick of standard ire 3 } The latter assumption is much the rebels. Neastreniant into the mental deals chiefly with the other plants. There is one safer. The spirit and phrasing of his New Deal reprisals can take two painful forms: First, to see that Dl Briegs equipment of the Nor are huge orders from abroad other influence declaration showed him to be con- few, if any, of the public works projects demanded by the ear-markers courteous, quiet, citizen, as well as of any particular concern, that could ema- scious of high principle, and deeply occur within the districts which they represent; second, since relief dignified, With his or her effi- * ok ok % - 3 nate from the moved. must be curtailed as a result of their raid on the cooky jar, let econ= far-seeing, merry ;xclnlm'.nThl:ri‘c‘ Last February a telephone call brought Charles Edison, newiy ap- | COUrt: ~Conceiv- ue cally the bil I to establish mini- & mum wages, but then it is realized pointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to the White House. The Presi- dent asked him to use such inventive genius as he might have inherited to speed up the sea program. ‘What's happened? ably, there might be deaths or res- ignations which would affect the Our American courts, Mr. O'Ma- honey said, were designed for pro- tection against arbitrary power. To preserve them in that exalted function, omy begin at home. Harry Hopkins should discharge all W. P. A. workers in their districts and say: “The man who represents you in Congress says that you don't need to eat.” So what? So the relief row in the House may help along the New Deal party blue eyes that close for concen- tration, with gray hair awry, flow= | | rt 3 . Mr. O'Mahoney said, “they should| “blood purge” just as the President’s judicial reform bill is marking down | ing eyebrows i::z "I;}*l“"‘i:‘-: ng; : The answer, as of today, is revealing: :‘n’::;': ;:Pw:?: never be under even the su~pfcion that| Tory Senators for reprisals. The foes of the “Forgotten Man” and the i rampant, meas- ‘hn‘)wn Em of ; Several };(nols have been addefi to the speed of the shipbuilders; Disregarding that they might be dominated by either the | Nine Old Men may find themselves in the same leaky dory when the 1938 14 Nralat thisiwere David Lawrence. Mgn} more tnnls have been shaken nutkn! the red tape that makes pessibility, Mr. executive or legislative power. * * *| primaries and State conventions come rolling around. e mitesi. to a national uniformly applied, so exceptions are S A hnanuscoreso e beckache fiian fa burgain o Roosevelt's court The right of the individual to be pro- This blood-letting will be especially painful since the Pres- standard of what fio he mage with respect to the fu- pravaie;izms. S measure stands tected against the arbitrary use of ident, by starting his loose talk about national economy, set a trap, eminer uld be, how they SampcientianduineeliehUyadeleciive Calm, quiet, unassuming, almost shy. sitting in an office whose walls | o\ 1t METits be- power can be guaranteed only by the by accident or design, for the politically prehistoric members of his | should look are covered with pictures of ships, there is no suggestion of the rollicking fore Congress courts, and if the independence of the own party. The enemies of the New Deai had a chance to pretend s, “all stand- e v, Mark Sullivan. courts is not maintained, all guaranties 5 licies e The proposed Federal Wage and bt MR 5 - and the country iined) t to fight under the Roosevelt banner against the very policies he are based on Hour{Bnerd wil probably Have scon| | S 8 Soote MEABdLon, bl 1b oniyjiakes s minle of Sonversation 10| The strong judgment of Washing- | °f, freedom and justice vanish. This advocates. From mow on they will be marked men. metric sys- siderable work for mental specialists, | y'g men. - Ui L3 €. Hlis problem isn't ships, anyhow, | ton is that the measure will not pass is the most rundanzvm:u question The unfortunate thing about it is that neither the President nor h ress in 1866. if not physicians qualified to discuss | : of basic Americanism that has been the effect of a physical ir relative efficiency of g ury on the He likes the Navy, finds its methods and organization compare not unfavorably with a great corporation. That it will not pass in the form in | which Mr. Roosevelt sent it to Con- | gress, giving presented to the Congress in a gen- eration.” party has seriously thought through this business of relief. To many who ardently sympathize with New Deal policies, there has always seemed to etric system used for scien : - himself power to ap- be a monstrous confusion in the work-relief program. Why should neces- | eign trade. Inch and pound meas- In other words, Even the son of the Wizard of Menlo Park might not have been able | joint six new justices, is taken for | To those who said that the 27,000.- sary projects be confused with social pressure? If a project—a powe in common use. minimum wage theoretically, but the to conjure steel bids out of unwilling bilders. Fortunately, the manu- granted. And most observers believe | 000 votes for Mr. facturers “capitulated” to some degree to the conditions laid down by the Roosevelt were a a recreation ground, a bridge, a highway, an apartment house, a d t in 1901 the e R T . ; |l cannot pass in the compromise | mandate from an overwhelming ma- | or flood control system—is desirable, it should be completed, with m 2 e S Bk Mo | :Nfl}l;-*!‘\-llideales act, and helped solve that crisis. But, right there, Mr. Edison | form that has been discussed, giving | jority, 8 mandate to Congress to sur- efficiency and minimum cost, without reference to the size of the aed (”"GT:,:E s o0k hold and started some capitulating on his side. ; Mr. Roosevelt power to appoint two | render their individual judgments— | relief rolls. Relief workers should be given preference on such projects | & staff of 16 pecple, Tn 1963 ] He went after the distracting Vincent-Trammel act (which authorizes | new justices. to this Mr. O'Mahoney made a dra- | pyt jects should not be sacrificed to relief workers. ARinh e Likewise there are to be maximum | the treaty-strength Navy and also has that clause which limits profits on e e e po) Ll SR i gD o hours, but the Federal board can | Reasons for Probable Defeat. : say the hours are pressive or injurious employer pays time not at all op- | to health if the and a half for Government contracts to 10 per cent). Of course, he couldn't change the per cent figure. That was fair enough. The manufacturers had no ob- Jection to it. Their trouble was that the Treasury made rules about what could be figured in as costs, which in some cases turned the 10 per cent For the probable defeat of the measure, there are many reasons. Most of the reasons focus into one. A large | That quotation is one of the most important contributions made in all the millions of words of the whole The basic idea of work relief seems to be a degradation of labor, quite as immoral as prison labor. Why insist that needy citizens be given work, no matter how foolish and useless, bejore they can claim relief? If our Vincent Astors can live without working and still hes with a overtime. Its in the matter of over- profit into a loss. There was |number of Democratic Senators haye | COMTt discussion. How does that dec- maintain their yachts and morals unimpaired, if the late John D. to time that rules could be promul- fisn{’f\fl‘w elasticity there, and Mr. Edison |been so impressed by the objections | la}ralmn haDw:n to appear in the con- | Rockefeller could be supported in idleness for the last quarter of a de avail= gated that might affect working con- v?: $ went after it, obtained the co- |to the measure that they just win |Stitution of Wyoming and not, so far century without being thereby degraded, why should the stamina of Government. tha ditions generally, irrespective of the A (@) operation of Treasury officials and | Dot Vote for it. The Senators who | 8 I know. in the constitution of any their fellow Americans be burncd out by a straight cash dole? e. Other tests of minimum wage the pro- made common-sense adjustments |have come to this position include |Other State? (Some one ought to posed law. The opporty of course, for po- we litical pull and pressure for special | are others. They all & the Roosevelt administration, with re- |duplicated) — Here is & foundation | coyiq have built several T. V. As p P | 4 dd up to it b A : ¢ ¢ favors is well illustrated by the fol- | speed spect to any reasonable matter, is|30ne of the American conception of |\ anq controlled the floods of the U's prime funce lowing language ta fr the text | likewise unquestionable. | government—yet it was not written of the Corcoran bill “The board shall provide by regu- lation or by order that the employ- | that satisfied the manufacturers. That's just one example, There Charles Edison doesn't yearn to be an Assistant Secretary of the ' = Navy during a war. But should “der tag"” rise like thunder out of the Bay of Biscay, there will be no need many whose loyalty to the party is un- questionable, some whose loyalty to Among positions taken against Mr. Roosevelt's court measure by Demo- cratic Senators, that of Mr. O'Ma- search the other 47 State constitutions to see if this declaration is anywhere explicitly into the Federal Constitu- tion nor into any of the State ones except that of a sparsely settled moun- If this principle had been fol- lowed in spending the great $5.- 000,000,000 1935 relief fund, Ohio and the dust of the Dakotas with what we saved on made- work and boondoggling. But Harry Hopkins had to have his way, Sec- v the inside of a t college I knew ment of employes in any occupation | for him to invent an alibi for our fleet honey of Wyoming is especially sig- |!ain commonwealth. 5 retary Ickes was given the works, Upon terms jand conditions prescribed ok ox * nificant. From the time the Presi- | T imagine the explanation is that| and Congress has quite naturally | S e s e e | One American ship that won't be speeding toward the Mediter- dent sent his measure to Congress, | at the time we founded our Govern- | rebelled. | State College at & work wee ranean, as originally planned, if the present trouble gets worse, is for more than two months, up to ment we were so familiar with this Yet in rebelling, Congressmen have committed another and | red his way priate fair labor | the training vessel that carries the midshipmen to foreign shores almost the very day Mr. O'Mahoney | principle, believed it so universally, worse blunder. If Mr. Roosevelt erred in trying to combine a public | years at the L'"”'”sr'i applicable to suck ipation shall | after graduation each year. took his position, he had been |that we took it for granted. works program with the relief administration, Congress is committing r d his m sters of not be deemed tute a st They'll have to make for more tranquil waters. counted in favor of it; newspaper com- | Within a year the voters of the the crime of trying to combine a public works program with economs n 1895, came to Wash- standard labor cc for the pur-" * % ok X pilations listed him among the | country must make up their minds to If the rebels win, any economy must come out of hides of the same year, worked in the pose of one or more provisions of this The battle to kill the court bill really isn't over. This was revealed | fors.” jwhat to do about Democratic Sena- | mjjlions of jobless Americans who have been supported by W. P. A Sotls, Department of Ag- act if the boar at the spe- | When a weli-known Washingtonian cleaned up his desk and turned up a This incorrect assumption may have tors who are in Mr. O'Mahoney’s| New Dealers will be dumb indeed if they do not take advantage of went to Jo Hopki - cial character o of the em-| telegram he hadn't answered |arisen from Mr. O'Mahoney's back- | position. Mr. O'Mahoney does not| piece of tragic foliy to drive the fake-liberals and phoney-progre degree. Detailed ployment or the ed qualifications 1t stated that the “vicious precedent” of adding to the court would |®&round. He had been a member of happen to come up for re-election | the House of Representatives out of the New Deal party reau of Standar of the employes makes such employ- | be blocked with the aid of “an additional hundred thousands dollars” and | the Roosevelt administration—Mr. | next year, but there are some elght | of puplic life altogether. Heaven knows there are pl and the fleld of aer ment j able a that “small contributions” could not be depended upon. The recipient of | Roosevelt when he took office had other Democratic Senators in his po- with the accomp =1 the appeal was Secretary of Agriculture Wallace. | made him First Assistant Postmaster sition who do. It is safe to expect more flexible politicians gunning for their jobs to ler Rooseve a | N 2 and Farley a helping hand when the relief rebellion gets down to the pre- 28, poses of such one or more provisions (Copyright, 1937, by the North American Newspaper Alllance ) General. In that post he had been | the fates of (h‘“b", Senators will be the | cincts next year. compess, of this act.” i | close to Postmaster General and Demo- | most important issues of next year's = s and sound T Shr s o | cratic National Chairman Famey. | congressional campaign. Their fates in 192 I LSSIOTVRS Judge. | land?” This is a broader definition | phrases which may contain hidden [ Hence he had been far within the Who is to be the it all lhxs! than ever before has been made, but will be determined, not so much in | Democratic national organization will ive honorary meanings, depending on the point of | inner party organization that ad- | the general election as in their fights | try to defeat them is assumed. This Briggs is scien- &s it relates to the of work | for some unknown reason the “right | view of the five master minds who | ministers patronage and exercises | for renomination in the Democratic icnndlLion would seem to put an obli- | the Democrati commercially pro- of 45.000.000 workers? A Federal to strike” is specifically omitted. The | are to constitute the proposed Federal | party discipline. After he left the | primaries. That President Roosevelt, |gation on those Voters and leaders of | checked it gressive, personally popular. His hob- RS f‘}; controlled by one | whole bill, however, is full of novel | commission. Post Office Department to enter the ' Nationa} Chairman Farley and the | thought who have taken an interest | © e o g bl man—the hie xecutive—is to as- sume this task. and once the law is | passed it will take a two-thirds vote | of both houses of Congress to repeal | it over a veto. The bill goes on to | say “Such regulations or orders may provide for (1) the employment of learners and apprentices at such wages lower than the applicable wage and subject to such limitations as to time, number, propor length of service as the board shall pre- scribe | 2. The employment of persons | whose earning capacity mpaired by | r mental deficienc: special licenses to ! be issued by the board, at such wages lower than cable wage and for such period as shall be fixed by | such licenses; “3. Reductions for board, lodging and other facilities furnished by the employer if the nature of the work is such that the employer is obliged to furnish and the employe to ac- cept such facilities; | “4, Overtime employment in pe- ! riods of seasonal or peak activity or | in maintenance, repair, or other emergency work and the wages to be | paid for such overtime employment; and | “5. Suitable treatment of other cases or classes of cases which, be- cause of the nature and character of the employment, justify special treat- | ment.” i Wages for Apprentices. | Tt had always been supposed here- | tofore by business men that labor unions would make the rules as to apprentices and wages to be paid them or schedules for overtime, but the Federal Government, under the | terms of the proposed Corcoran bill, | now would undertake to do all this. | Just where five men are to be found who will have the omniscience to work out equitably all the employ- | ment relations described in the ne\x’i bill is difficult to conjecture, but it | goes without saying that an army of | bureaucrats and jobs will be created | by the measure if it passes. There will | have to be regional boards and local | poards and offices throughout the country to take care of the many thousands of questions affecting em- ployment that are bound to arise. 1 Sees “‘Delegation Run Kiot.” | Clearly the Corcoran bill comprises | %0 much power delegated by Con- | gress to the Wage and Hour Control | Board that the phrase of Justice Car- dozo in characterizing the N. R. A. as “delegation run riot” seems hardly broad enough even to approximate ac- | curacy this time. H Note to Unions. There's another feature of the Cor- eoran bill which probably will prove interesting to labor unions. Hereto- fore all legislation relating fo labor has had in it a clause to the effect that nothing in the measure shall be construed as diminishing or im- peding the right®to strike. But the | Corcoran bill contains & different | phraseology: “Nothing in this act, or in any reg- | ulation or order thereunder, shall be construed to interfere with or im- pede or diminish in any way the right of emploves to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organiza- | tions; to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosin; and to engage in all concerted act ties allowed by the law of the land, and the act shall be construed and applied to encourage and protect the self-organization of employes for the purpose of collective bargaining and mutual aid.” What is meant by “all concerted ac- tivities allowed by the law of the | AY COOL i» FLORSHEIM | GENUI Airflo’s. extra wear of a second pair. Because 1t 1s Naturally Air-Conditioned! Aifle BUCKSKIN ‘E. 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