Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 August 1937 — Page 27

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MONDAY, AUG. 9, 1087 THEY WANTTA GO HOME Q PEAKING of bum’s-rush lawmaking, let us hear from Harlan F. Stone, now liberal justice of the United States Supreme Court, but then, when this was written, dean of Columbia University Law School. “If the purpose of the bills seems good, they are reported out of committee, and the closing days of the legislative session are given over to the wholesale passing of hills which have never been the subject of systematic study by any legislative agency.” Of the way in which law is written: “This task of the legislator, on the technical side, is one requiring wide legal knowledge and special training and experience, and above all, deliberation and painstaking effort. A large proportion of our legislation is, however, crudely drawn. Its language is vague, inaccurate, and often filled with inconsistencies, Words and phrases of uncertain meaning are often preferred to those which have received judicial interpretation, or acquired from accepted usage & definite legal meaning. The history, interpretation and practical operation of existing laws are too often disregarded altogether, with the consequence that the courts and lawyers are left to struggle as best they may with a great mass of ill-considered, poorly constructed legislation.” And— “When one considers the vast amount of legislation annuaily poured out upon the devoted heads of our people, often enacted in ignorance or disregard of the first principles which must control the regulation of social organization, and frequently so bad in form as to defeat the purpose or require the interpretation of a generation of courts to make it effective, one is impressed with the fact that the sins of our legislators are still outstripping all our efforts for reform.” Something, we might say, in the way of food for thought for those who though hired hy the year are nevertheless in such a heat to “pass the program” because they “wantta go home.”

THE NEXT COURT CHAPTER

T started as a bill to pack the U. S. Supreme Court, but it | completed its passage through the Senate as a measure | Velt himself, who paid no Federal to speed up procedure in the lower Federal Courts in order |

that the Iligh Court might more quickly pass on questions

of constitutionality. Thus is the concluding chapter being written to the

biggest blunder of the Roosevelt Administration,

His New Deal program stymied by an antagonistic |

Suprente Court, Mr. Roosevelt saw clearly that the judicial branch of our Government had arrogated to itself powers which properly belong to the legislative branch. He struck out boldly to put the judiciary into what he conceived to be

its place. But he struck not wisely, for he conceived the role | of the judiciary to be not as an equal and co-ordinate branch | He tried, |

of our Government, but as a subordinate agency. not to restore halance in our Government, but to create a

new unbalance. Court by a measure designed to humiliate its members and

lower its prestige. His strategy failed—so completely that an tunity was lost to repair the Government's check-and-balance machinery. In the end it was the Chief Executive, not the Court, that lost prestige, for while Mr. Roosevelt was pressing for personal triumph and reaching out for more power, the Court handed down one decision after another abdicating powers it previously had seized. And as the Court retreated to its rightful place in the American scheme of things, public sentiment rallied to its defense. For a time, thanks to the Court's renunciation, the The Congress determines, the

oppor-

balance has been restored.

any time can upset. The President failed to take advantage of his opportunity to establish permanent checks against future abuse of judicial powers. When Congress reconvenes next year, however, let us hope that the wounds from the Court-packing battle will have healed, and that progressive lawmakers who divided on the packing issue can unite on a constitutional amendment for judicial reform. One plan on which many of these lawmakers would have compromised willingly, before the President's bitterend tactics made compromise impossible, was the submission of an amendment requiring at least a two-thirds vote of Supreme Court members to hold a law of Congress unconstitutional. Another plan which many favored was the submission of an amendment giving Congress the power to override a court veto by the same two-thirds vote that it overrides a Presidential veto. . Other plans included a definite tenure for Supreme Court and other Federal judges, and a definite age limit. All these proposals deserve study and deliberative action, for the problem of maintaining balance is a continuing one in our 2amocracy. But it is a problem whose solution must be decided by the amendment route, for the Constitution and the Government are the property of the people. The people alone are supreme over all three branches.

SETTLEMENT WITHOUT STRIKE

[AST March the 14 “nonoperating” railroad unions served notice that their 800,000 members wanted a pay raise of 20 cents an hour. The railways said this was impossible. And there—but for one thing—was a situation that might have led to a costly strike. That one thing is the Railroad Labor Act, which provides a method of adjusting such disputes peaceably. The method was followed. The unions negotiated with the managements. When agreement seemed improbable, the

National Mediation Board stepped in, hy consent of both

parties. That was on July 16. On Aug. 5, the board announced a settlement. That is the method by which the railways and their employees have adjusted their differences for more than 41 years. It works because they wanwto make it work.

He sought a personal victory over the |

Restored at Last—By Kirby

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Roosevelt's Preface to Report of Congressional Tax Avoidance Probe Found Inconsistent by Columnist.

| NEW YORK, Aug. 9.—In connection with

the report of the Congressional Tax Avoidance Committee I have read again Mr, Roosevelt's message introducing the subject,

and have been particularly impressed by the

application of certain of his remarks to his own case and that of the Roosevelt family, Quoting Justice Holmes, the President sald, “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” and added that too many individuals want civilization at a discount, Among those who have taken their civilization at a discount is Mr, Roose=

income tax on his salary as Governor of New York, and now pays no State income tax on his large Federal salary and allowances, although he is a resident of New York enjoying very special and expensive services at the cost of other New York citizens, Ham Fish, the representative of Mr. Roosevelt's home district, attempted to cite a case in which there was reason to ask whether Mr, Roosevelt had taken advantage of a “clever little scheme” to claim depreciation on an ancient barn on his Christmas tree ranch. But the Committee rallied to protect the President from the same sort of treat ment which he had dealt his enemies, Mr. Fish was not allowed to say a word until he agreed to avoid the subject of Citizen Roosevelt's tax returns, * Ww Ww EMINDED of the exemption by which he has been able to enjoy his share of civilization at an approximate half price, Mr, Roosevelt said he, too, deplored this constitutional immunity, But {t may be noticed that he did not think to deplore it in his orig inal message to Congress accusing his political adversaries, Nor has he lent any support to the constitutional amendment proposed by Congressman Cochran of Missouri, to abolish these exemptions and place public officers and employees on ah equal footing with the producers who pay their salaries, Nor has he, or anyone in the Treasury Department, summoned the courage to demand that religious, charitable and educational organizations be required to open their books, account for their income and pay taxes on the same, or that labor organizations be similarly scrutinized. Here are two inviting sources of income tax, in addition to the class of public officials

! y | and employees, which are warily ignored. President administers, and the Court interprets policies. | But, unfortunately, the balance is one that the Court at

" " » HTS is interesting in view of the progress of Mr. . Roosevelt's family in the struggle for existence since he first took office as President. Mrs. Roosevelt has become one of our most ruccessful authors, practically from a standing start as of 1932. Genius has

ERRATA

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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The Hoosier Forum

I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire. |

|

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(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious con: troversies excluded, Make

| FEDERAL EMPLOYEES | By RL. Hiram Lackey's letter to Forum |

| URGES INCOME TAX FOR

| defending the no-tax on State and |

| Federal Government officials’ salaries and urging higher wages for them, is really touching in its solicitude, if it weren't that he didn't know much about fit.

In some few instances public of- |

fices are underpaid, but on the

whole, office holders get an adequate |

[ living wage compared to the salary [of the average worker. In most cases, indeed, it is far more than the officeholder could get ff he worked in private industry | breed that takes to running for of[fice as a whole isn't particularly [ concerned with qualifications. In | many cases, the job is a reward for | political effort,

The |

| The officeholder generally is the |

type of man, too, to whom no | amount of salary is adequate, Pers sonal integrity and character do not bear a dollar sign. He, the office | holder, knowing his term of office | 1s short, is out to make all he cn | got while the getting's good, It is fortunate we do have public offi. | efals who are trustworthy in office, | but it is sad they are so few. | Cites Contradiction | Mr, Lackey argues av cross pur- | poses when he states that office- | holders are underpaid and in the next sentence that they would be ‘returning to poverty.” Why should the public official be “in fear of ,eturning to poverty” if the man really had some stuff in him to earn a livIng privately? The men we elect

to local office

who When

lawyers without portfolio scarcely can pay office rent,

badly bitten with political ambition they'll starve the wife and kids in order to swing a campaign to get elected to higher office. I'll give you names if you want them, but I'm sure you can supply them yourself, If newspapers leave the impression that most Government employees

elected to minor office some are SO | because of the Court's decisions. the

your letter short, so all can have a chance, Letters must | be signed, but names will | be withheld on request.) |

ment salaries, T am very much in| favor of ft. Why should not the | officcholder pay as well as the Govs | ernment hireling whose job is jeopardized with every passing po- | litteal wind, regardless of his ability and fithess?

" ” » | DECLARES SOCIALISM | WON'T BE FORGOTTEN By Mabel German Jim Farley says, “The American people do not forget.” And what he says is very true, The following are a few of the many things the American people will not forget for many years to come, They will! not forget Franklin D, Roosevelt was President of the United

easily

elected

| States in 1932 on a good Democrat | platform, and that he discarded that

platform for a Socialist program, shunning the advice of tried and true Democart leaders for a bunch of brainstorm advisers, who have

[ put through socialistic legislation in

or Changress more often than not are |

a mad effort to centralize power in the President, This is un-American and undemocratic and against our constitutional government The people will not forget that much of this un-American legisliation has been declared unconstitutional by our Supreme Court, and

Administration has sought to pass

legislation to destroy.the Court, The | people will not forget that Jim Par- |

DON'T FAIL TO FORGET By ANNA E. YOUNG |

| sheep

[ley, as chief Intimidator, did every. [thing in his power to influence cone | gressmen to favor this un-American | issue, | Again the people will not forget Roosevelt's refusal to declare hime |

[self on vital questions put to him |

before the election of last Novem. | ber. The people will not forget the | contradictory statements of this Ad- | ministration to mislead the people, | Nor will the people forget the silence | of the President on the sit-down strike or the Postmaster-Cieneral ignoring the holdup of the U, 8 Mail during the steel strike | No, Mr, Parley, the American | people will not forget the destrucs | tion of food, while the people went | hungry, and the “must legislation” of your chief defeated its own pur- | pose, Thinking Democrats and Re. publicans will not forget the politi cal maneuvering of our Governol and Senator Minton, We will remember to go to the polls next elec tion and vote for VanNuys and the other statesmen who have the well. being of the people who elected them at heart, Mr. Farley, we won't | forget to remember, » Ww WW SENATOR BARKLEY'S CAMPAIGN RECALLED By Daniel Francis Chaney, Logansport Well, well, s6 Senator Barkley has | become famous! Now that he fis one of the guardians of our Creal Destiny, a pillar of the Republic | and, in short, all of those other things loyal party men, in due | time, become-—my thoughts wander back to the last occasion upon |

which it was my privilege to be ad- |

| dressed by Kentucky's favorite son, |

It was during the campaign of 1036 and--as you newspaper chaps | would say — feeling was running | high, “Dear Alben,” by the way, fn those days was just another in the senatorial flock, | though, I'll grant, a sheep looked upon with pride and affection by | the White House shepherd. Hear-

|

When vou strive to remember

[ing that barker Barkley was to be

[is our | elected.

followed the election returns in the case of Mrs. John |

Boettiger, the President's daughter, for she also went Journalistic after Mr. Roosevelt's first election and, within the last year has been signaled out as peculiarly qualified for subeditorship on one of Mr. Hearst's newspapers. Mr. Roosevelt's son, James, draws $10,000 a year as secretary to his father, another son does very well in Mr. Hearst's radio department which is beholden to the President's political radio hoard for its licenses. And of all the interior decorators in the United States, the one best equipped for the newly created task of traveling around the world to lovely-up our embassies was discovered in Mrs, Irene De Bruyn Robbins of Buenos Aires. She is the widow of Mr. Roosevelt's cousin. The job pays $6500 a year, plus expenses, and it will take at least a thousand small-fry income tax returns to meet the expense.

General Hugh Joh

| say, | advertises himself most

are not worthy of their hire, it may | be a little exaggerated, but I know doggone well it's true, The charge also is true that ft fault shoddy officials are Somehow we have grown too big and intricate in our living We have lost something essential with the passing of the frontier, when one could personally Know svery candidate for office.

May Be Inevitable Life is now so crowded and com- | plex we must take things on hearconsequently

fellow who felicitously | is the guy to get our vote, I wouldn't know how to correct this situation; it may be incurable, the inevitable by-product of our “civilization,” but | at least I plead that we give a lib- | eral newspaper credit for seeing | things as they are and not being | afraid to say so. It is well for the opposition to be aired, and Mr, Lackey shows some evidence of thinking on both sides |

the

us.—Dickens,

All the things that are good Don't fail to forget All the things that you should; A keen disappointment, Or a misplaced trust Put firmly behind you Like wind-scattered dust,

Think you of the morrow, Not of the day that is done, Dwell not on a ‘esterday’s Slow setting sun. Greet each day's arrival With gladness anew: What you put in a day Will come back to you,

DAILY THOUGHT

But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. —~Mark 10:14, '

LOVE these little people; and it is not a slight thing, when they, of the question when he brings it | who are so fresh from God, love

lon hand to lure voters into the [right tent, TI presented myself at | the appointed place. The band played | Are Hore Again” and New York.” [ moment arrived-—there was a stir-

“Happy Days “Sidewalks of

| held its breath—the band burst into | “There's a Hot Time fn the Old | Town Tonight'—the audience let [out fits breath—and Dear Alben made his way through the jobhunters, hand-shakers and other | platform, he { hands, mounted, and came forth to bask in the cheers of citizenry, And there he stood (that I'l never forget) in a chocolate brown suit, vestless, and with his coat hanging open. A man who appears in a chocolate<brown suit in the evening-—a chap who waves his arms, perspires, shouts and mixes jokes with his statistics, as Senator Barkley proceeded to do—will never come to great things in the Government of a nation (I thought),

up. As to paying tax on Govern-

nson Says—

Government Reorganization, Wage and Farm Bills Dubious Experiments; Even Authors of the Proposals Don't Know What Their Results Will Be.

ETHANY BEACH, Del, Aug. 9.—The Brownlow plan for reorganization of the Government provides for handing the great congressional commissions over to the executive. There they are to be taken apart to see what makes them tick. Then their pieces are all to be pied like type and reset in new places. For instance, the Interstate Commerce Commission is partly legislative, partly executive and partly Judicial. It is a Federal Government in miniature. First the executive 1s going to take it over and then amputate its legislature, dissect out its judicial and graft its dismembered organs onto some other dismembered body—perhaps the Federal Trade Commission. A At least all that may be done it the Administration happens to feel like it. That is what the quartet of college professors who wrote the Brownlow report thought it would be nice to try. But when Senator Byrd asked one of them which commission and when and how, the pundit did not know. He only knew that the Brownlow bund thought it would be fun to have some taking apart and putting together again and that the executive ought to do it. " ® ow I" is all something like an inquiring little boy pulling the legs and wings off flies and trying to stick them on to the di$membered body of a beetle to make

a new insect—why, he doesn't know. But it is lots of fun and something might possibly come out of it. Action without consideration, experimentation with no definite purpose and no survey of controlling facts, adoption of almost any proposal if only it is novel, startling and dramatic—that is the trouble in Congress now, The Wages-and-Hours Bill has had its legs and wings pulled off and some of them stuck back on in different places three separate times—all without the slightest attempt to find out how it will work, what harm it will do or what its effect may be. u » » HE heat is on to strong-arm the Wallace Agricultural Bill through with still less information,

study or debate. The Administration says: “Pass it or else”—"else” being a bluff not to support farm

prices by loans if it doesn't get farm regimentation |

for Henry Wallace. It lays down no rule and solves no problem. It Just passes the problem on to the executive with power to do what Congress ought to do, just as the Black Bill passes the wage problem and the Brownlow plan passes revolutionary Government reorganization. In 1933 this sort of abdication by Congress was necessary. It is not necessary now. That early taste of plenary power has proved too much. The vice of all these bills is not a new temporary abdication of Congress. It is that they are designed to make ali temporary abdications permanéht

the |

And, finally, the big |

ring at the entrance-~the audience |

[ patriots, Coming to the flag-draped block shook a few more |

_—_—_—_—

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Fearing Me Might Get Stuck With A Future Man o' War, Writer Keeps Mum During Saratoga's Auction,

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N, Y., Aug, 9. They were selling yearlings at public aues tion the other night, and a very nice colt went for as little at $9600, But, lacking & kingdom, 1 didn’t get a horse and came home empty handed, As a matter of fact, the $9600 beauty was the top price of the night, A few went for less than $1000 and the auctioneer was ale lowing opening bids of a mere $300, One felt very tempted to make an offer whethep he had any money or not, T% would have given me great joy to get in at least one bid in the stately Baratoga manner, There is no vulgar shouting of great sums except on the part of the auctions eer, The prospective purchaser ine dicates his willingness to go on from $2800 to 83000 by merely arching one eyebrow Connie was afraid that if 1 of fered a couple of hundred for a vearling T might get stuck with a future Man o' War and we would have no place to put him except in the study abaft the back porch in Stamford, And so 1 kept my eyebrows down However, the chance of getting another Man o* War at any price is probably little better than one in a million, Col. E. R, Bradley, who is by way of bes ing a profound student of the law of averages, is will ing to bet even money with the purchaser of any yearling that the horse will never win a race. A thors oughbred 15 a fragile thing and there is many a slip between the auction ring and the Saratoga Gold Cup,

EE —————..

Mr. Broun

» ” " UT they are pretty things, these baby horses, and the yearlings looked big as fulls grown racers, It seems to me that fear dominates the emotions of all horses. And so the most remarkable man in the auction ring was the short, squat indi vidual who led the yearlings out under the fierce glow of the lights and made them turn about like models in a dress show for all the crowd in dinner clothes and

many of as

| ballroom frocks,

That the horses were nervous was evident enough, not one of them tried to plunge through the They expressed their concern only by loud neighs. Indeed 1 think that one particus lar colt aided the auctioneer greatly in getting an extra $300. The horse in question was about to go for $800, but as the hammer was raised for the final rap the steed uttered a piteous cry of protest, and a lovely lady promptly took him home for $1000, ” n ” J) the experts seated round about I imagine that the various exhibits differed profoundly in thefe conformation. To me they all looked pretty much alike after a couple of dozen had been put up on the That is, all except one gray horse, In heaven I will own a very complete string of racers, and they will all be gray. The advantage of a gray horse is that you can spot him without field glasses whether he is running first or last or in the middle of the pack. But in my heaven every man's horse invariably wins. Just how that is going to be managed I don't know. But I have faith, And there every yearling will turn out to be Man o' War, Indeed, my notion of heaven at the moment is of a place not unlike Baratoga Springs My fling is over, Who wants to fight about somes thing?

hut ropes into the crowd,

The Washington Merry .Go-Round

Wrangling Within Government May Delay Trans-Atlantic Air Service: Plane Builders Are Opposing Monopoly by, Pan-American Airways.

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

ASHINGTON, Aug. 0.—The widely heralded trans-Atlantic air service, scheduled to open this fall between the United States and England, may not get under way after all. Reason is a hot under cover row between different government agencies, which are split up in supporting rival aviation interests, The Commerce Department and the Maritime Commission are on one side, both supporting plane manufacturers, On the other side are the State Iepartment and Pan-American Afrways. Nub of the controversy is whether the trans-Atlantic route shall be a monopoly. Also a bone of contention is a secret agreement between Pan-American and the Britishsubsidized Imperial Airways, by which the U. 8. firm obtained exclusive landing field rights fn England. Plane builders object to Pan-American's projected monopoly, basing objections on two counts:

First, that =uch monopoly is detrimental to the | | best Interests of national defense, Second, that ft

would injure their business by confining the demand for flying boats to one company,

b 4% % ARD feeling between Pan-American and the plane-makers is of long standing. They charge that as a result of Pan-American’s monopoly of th American and Pacific air routes, the United tn lags far behind Great Britain in the n a lopment of flying boats, Wonders in the the Government ‘witch sn pap

|

American Alrways are Col, J. Monroe Johnson, Ase sistant Secretary of Commerce, and Grover Loening, aviation adviser to Chairman Joe Kennedy of the Mare itime Commission, Of the two, Col. Loening pare ticularly is a thorn in Pan-American's side He was a director of the company for vears, Howse ever, he broke with his old associates, resigned from the board and joined the Maritime Commission, The Btate Department, long friendly to Pan-Amers fcan, is going to bat for it again in this controversy, R. Walton Moore, State Department counsellor and its representative on the interdepartmental committees handling the trans-Atlantic air question, nas des fended the company in secret deliberations, LJ » » E has opposed the manufacturers’ demand that Pan-American make public its agreements with Imperial and is against competition by different U. 8. lines across the Atlantic, According to Mr. Moore's explanation, the British at first refused landing privileges to the United States either in Bermuda or Newfoundland. Tn turn tha State Department refused Imperial landing privileges fn the United States, Finally a compromise was reached, so that one British hne and one American line were given mus tual privileges. Should this arrangement now be upe set, Mr, Moore claims, the British will cancel ths original agreement, deny landing privileges to any American line, relinquish their ianding privileges in the United States and switch their route to Montreal. oM Moore, would trans-Atlantic

ow