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New Property Definition May Come * ————— Sit-Down Strikes Could Be Step to U.S. Regu lation of Uses. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. MONTHS before President Roosevelt embarks on a new policy tlie trend of the New Deal can usually be foreseen or inferred from the writings and apeeches of the nine or more “young men” who furnish him with most of the ideas he embodies in his public addresses. James M. Landis is one of these “young men.” His position as chair man oi me oe curities and Ex- | change Commis- | •Ion indicates the | reliance placed by | Mr. Roosevelt in | his capacity, and | th selection of ' Landis by the S board of trustees | of Harvard Law ; School to be the dean of that in stitution begin nin[ next:; Autumn is an in- | dication of how Landis ranks in David Lawrence. ms proiession as a leacner oi law. For these reasons it is pertinent today—in order to understand the future—to examine the text of a care fully prepared address just delivered by Landis before the Eastern Confer ence of Law Students in which he made not exactly a defease of sit down strikes as practiced today, but of the right of workers to stop pro duction as a means of securin satis faction of their grievances. The paragraph which reveals what Landis is thinkinB about—and to a certain extent what Secretary Perkins meant when she said the legality of sit-down strikes is still undecided—reads as follows: "We have witnessed for some years j the effort of employes to bring about 1 recognition of their claim to be free to persuade others to refrain from taking their places, who by such action would diminish the effectiveness of their own economic pressure. In recent months we have seen the ad vancement of a new claim to take measures that will effectively prevent all production until grievances are, satisfied—action that in its economic effects is the counterpart of the lock out. but because of the absence of any relationship such as the lockout pos sesses to property, finds itself with doubtful traditional legal justification. New concepts May Arise. "The eventual outcome of such a | claim will depend in part upon the ! emphasis that law will give to the concept of property and its inviola bility in its industrial and corporate setting to economic pressure of this type—and in part, perhaps, on the capacity of our law to devise new con cepts and mechanisms to meet the ? ?eds out of which this type of eco- ! nomic pressure has been born.” It will be noted that' Landis uses the word "doubtful” to qualify "tra ditional," namely, that sit-down strikes ^ merely have behind them no tradition of legal justification, which can be j taken to mean, of course, that be- j cause they do not posses* such legal justification on precedent they may j now be declared legal as a necessary ; part of a system of social and eco- j nomic justice. In Europe, of course, Russia, Italy j and Germany have distinctly modi- ; fled the traditional concepts of prop erty. Private property as an institu tion has been under attack in America, where many so-called liberals think that the state should own various businesses in entirety, or compete with existing private businesses till the property of the private owners is rendered worthless, a form, Indeed, of gradual confiscation. Landis reveals how the process of creating "new rights" comes out of j the evolution of law itself. He says: "The history of our law is replete j With illustrations of the creation of ! new rights. In the employer and employe relationship, the right of employes to quit work together for the simple end of improving the con ditions of labor found recognition only in the early nineteenth century. Indeed, the right to strike, and through such economic pressure to force collective bargaining, found no recognition in this country until the : turn of this century. "But this insistence upon collective bargaining refuses to stand still. It Is pushing itself now from a claim to use economic pressure toward the ac complishment of this end to an in sistence that the law itself shall im pose a duty upon the employer to endeavor conscientiously to arrange a collective labor contract with his em ployes when a majority of them so desire." The foregoing in substance is what the Wagner labor relations act has provided and it remains now for the Supreme Court to say whether com pulsory agreement, in so far as it affects action of the employer. Is an Impairment of his freedom of con tract. This particular point has not arisen in any lawsuit as yet, but if the Wagner act is sustained in part, as seems reasonable to expect, the next step will be the determination of a controversy hinging on the sup posed obligation of the employer to come to an understanding with a ma jority of his employes on terms of a contract, even when he feels such terms would be economically danger ous for him to grant if he intends to keep out of bankruptcy or receiv trship. It is very important, of course, who •hall define the supreme la ./ of the land. Landis wants President Roose velt to be given the power to add six new justices at once to the Supreme Court, and he Insists that this is necessary because of the previous decisions of members of the court. It is but another way of saying that, given a friendly Supreme Court, the sit-down strike, as an economic wea pon, will some day win approval if embodied in a statute. What is generally overlooked by the Landis school of thought is that the right to strike and the right to picket plants where production has stopped has not gone unlimited here tofore. and that the simple use of physical violence or physical intimi dation to attain an economic end has never before been sanctioned by law or by the courts, and yet it exists as a weapon largely because of an alli ance between labor and the politicians. To say that the right to strike has been universally recognized, or that picketing has been sanctioned, is to say that all the incidental violences connected with strikes have also been sanctioned. What Landis and his colleagues In the New Deal are working toward is , I News Behind the News Much of Income Expected From Soak-the-Rich Tax Leaks Through Loopholes. BY PAUL MALLON. MATTER of greatest Importance to an Individual or a government is income. Life depends very much on the size of the old weekly pay check. That decides nearly everything. Imagine, therefore, the current embarrassment of Morgenthau, keeper of the Federal purse. His income for this first quarter year is seriously below what he expected. How much is a matter of debate. Estimates ranging from $100,000,000 to $200,000,000 are bejng published. When the books are added about three weeks hence, the amount is very likely to hit $130,000,000 at least. This is the best inside guess to be made by the best experts now. Spoofers are inclined to chide Morgenthau about this, especially because ne nag been so proud of the exactness of his estimates in the past. If that were all it in volved, the problem would not be very serious. He has more ways of raising money than Ponzi. How ever. the trouble seems to be deeper. For some reason or other, the taxes levied are just not raising the money expected. * Officials will tell you it u too . early to draw deductions. The fine l figures are not available. It will be months before the collectors will be able to tell who did not pay as-much taxes as expected, and why. ... _ . But it is not too early for officials to be developing the broad suspicion that, for one thing, their soak-the-rich tax bill is not soak ing the rich. Evidence strongly hints that the corporation surplus tax bill, passed last year, is a Swiss product which may have nearly as many holes as cheese. Certainly something seems to be very 'sadly wrong with the way the rich are exuding, and it probably is the administrative enforcement provisions. In the first place, Morgenthau’s estimators seem to have made excellent guesses. The business improvement in 1936 was just about what they calculated. Economically, they seem to have had Justification to expect the amount of revenue they set forth in their budget. The trouble, therefore, can be traced, not to business, or economics, but to revenue causes. Beyond that lies a field of speculation, but- some very interesting tangible evidence is available in the published revenue receipts by States. These show .that income tax receipt* between March 1 and 20 were Just about double those of last year in all the States, except the wealthiest. * * * * Alabama taxpayers paid $2,000,000 this year and $1,000,000 last year; Arizona, $870,000 instead of $456,000; Arkansas, $1,200,000 instead of $600,000; but Massachusetts paid only $21,000,000 as against $14,000,000 in 1936; Michigan, $38,000,000 instead of $25,000,000, and so on. New York, the wealthiest State, paid exactly 52 per cent more than last year, while Wyoming increased over 100 per cent. This evidence is not conclusive, of course, but there can be no ques tion that the States in which the largest income surtax bracket citizens reside showed less than the average revenue increase. To put it anothr way: The largest increases in revenue now are com ing from States where there are not many taxpayers wealthy enough to hire lawyers to tell them how to avoid the new tax reform law. For some time it has been evident that methods of getting around the law were being daily discovered. Some attorneys are understood to have worked out methods of stock distribution of divi dends whereby neither the payer nor the payee is considered liable for the tax. Treasury authorities seem not to be excited by these and other known and unknown practices. They say they will make somebody pay eventually, presumably, the Democrats as well as the Republicans. Small corporations, in which holdings are centered in one family, are said to have dissolved and created partnerships, thus avoiding the flat cor porauuiis tax. xn suui taaca vino the device Is unquestionably legal and certainly no Democrat and perhaps few Republicans will be made to pay. * * * * The development has again raised the question whether there will be a tax bill this session. If the final official figures disclose that the loopholes must be faced and closed (if they can be), a cor rective measure will have to be passed before Congress quits. It cannot be delayed until Congress returns next January. Many authorities do not see how the Treasury can get away from it, despite the antipathy of Congress to consider a tax bill of any character. The Congressmen probably can be made to see that it is better to consider a tax bill this year than next, when they will be up for re-election. Also there is the question of further deficit financing and increase of the debt. Some experts believe that the revenue goose, sitting on the social security and unemployment trust funds, will lay a few extra golden eggs and obviate the difficulty. However, any plans for retirement of the $1,500,000,000 of open market debt will have to be dropped. The prospect of balancing the budget next year *ls not as good as when it was first advanced and it was not very good then. Likewise the Congressmen who are dreaming extensive housing, C. C. C. and other plans will now be able to occupy themselves with a phase of their plans which they overlooked so far, namely, where the money for them is coming from. J a new definition of property. They want property affected with a public interest. When that is obtained they will want Government to determine the uses of property. Norman Thom as and the Socialist party will go along with them a considerable dis tance on this and so will the Com munists, too. (Copyright, 193?. > BY MARK SULLIVAN. IN WHAT now occurs about the Chrysler strike in Detroit, the thing more important to watch than any other is what happens to the courts. Conceding the very great interest attaching to other aspects, it is the effect on the courts that will have deepest bearing on the kind of country America is to be. That all courts—the Judicial system as an Institution—is under attack, everybody know*. In the preserva- g tlon of this | system the people 1 have at stake the | heritage of seven f centuries. Yeti few realise ljow 1 tragic would be | their loss if they | lost this. Preservation of | the authority of | law administered s by courts is, to the | public, the funda- | mental issue in 1 the Chrysler Mark Salllran. strute. net mere is danger it may ue lost sight of in the more dramatic interest attaching to other aspects. Let us look at the relation of the courts to the Chrysler strike: Some 5,000 men "sat down” in the Chrysler factories, barred out the company officials who represent the owners, and provided themselves with the means to use force in resisting eviction. The owner of the factories, the Chrysler Corp., went to the court and asked for an order directing the sit-downers to cease their illegal occupancy by a given hour. The hour passed. The sit-downers did not quit. They are there yet. They declared in a public statement that they would not obey the order of the court. At present the head of the Chrysler Corp., Chrysler, and the head of the sit-downers’ union, Lewis, are in con ference. In this conference Lewis has his purposes. Chrysler has his. There is no one present, unless it be Gov. Murphy, to stand for the interest of the court that has been flouted, and the people whose paramount Interest is the preservation of respect for the authority of courts. The purpose of Chrysler is to end the strike on his terms. The purpose of Lewis is to end it on his terms. In that common purpose both are likely to treat the court, as democratic insti tutions everywhere in the world are being treated, with an ...difference that amounts to contemptuous flout ing. The relation of the courts to "sit down" strikes can be more clearly seen by turning away from the Chrysler strike to a different strike in which the events are now over. In the sit down at Flint in January and Febru ary, the owner of the property. General Motors, got from the court an order directing the sit-down strikers to leave the plant. When the court’s officer, the sheriff, read this to the sit-downers they ‘ booed.” Thereupon General Motors called the attention of the court to the fact that its order was being ignored. The court then issued a “writ of body attachment” directing the sheriff to arrest and remove the sit-downers. The sheriff asked the Governor of the State, Mr. Murphy, for the assistance he had to have to carry out the court's order. To this request Gov. Murphy made no reply. Instead he conducted con ferences between the heads of General WHERE DOES \ $Uf GET HER ENERGY? Star of -WEE WILLIE WINKIE” A 20th Ctntury-Fox Picturo I THAT'S the first question you’d ask ■ too, if you could see Shirley acting, ■ dancing, playing. She just bubbles I with energy from morning ’till night. LUCKILY, Shirley likes the things that are best for her. Sunshine, fresh air, and hearty breakfasts of Quaker Puffed Wheat keep her fit as a fiddle. Look for this display ; at your grocors r3 WRAPPINGS GUARD THE CRISPNESS OF GENUINE QUAKER PUFFED WHEAT. LOOK FOR THE RED "YnwnrriiiiiitMMi TIE ruiiiE WITH* k , PACKACE I 4 WITH* k\ PACIAtE 1 CTHE 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 he contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Courts "Hold the Bag” Judicial System Has No Adequate Spokesmen as Capital and Labor Dicker. ■ Motor* and the heads of the sit downers* union. This conference ended in agreement. In the agreement General Motors blandly recited that it would aslc the court to drop the proceedings which General Motors had initiated. General Motors added that it would make this request dependent upon "the will of the court.” In effect, General Motors, having come to an agreement with the sit-downers’ union, promised it would ask the court to do whatever is the le«?al verbiage for "Just forget it.” In accordance with this promise. General Motors’ lawyers asked the court to dismiss its action against the sit-downers. But General Motors’ lawyers appear to have got from the Judge a reception which they '■ould hardly have anticipated. Judge Gadola told them that they couldn’t get a writ from him, use that writ to bring about agreement with the sit-downers, and then ask him to "Just fo>®et it.” Judge Gadola told General Motors’ lawyers that they were themselves perilously close to contempt, that they "might find themselves ’ able for con tempt citations.” He said that such flouting of the court and the law as had been practiced by the leaders of the sit-downers could not be allowed to pass without penalty—the spectacle was subversive of the authority of law. “Already, Judge Gadola said, "we are beginning to see the results of their contemptuous action. People who are being served with papers in less important lawsuits are laughing at the court officers and pointing out that the court was impotent to enforce its will upon the strikers and totfiunish them for non-obedience." Judge Gadola said that "the court system cannot be treated as these men have treated it in the last few weeks.” He said that he had no desire to "send any one to jail,” but he declared that the strike leaders must appear before him, “acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court and apologize for their con temptuous actions.” This declaration Judge Gadola made on February 17. What has happened since, if anything, has not appeared in the newspapers, so far as I have seen. (It is from newspaper accounts that I take’the facts and quotations cited here.) It looks as though this obscure judge of a local court in a small Michigan city is making himself worthy to stand with the great Judges in American and British tradition who have made the centuries-long struggle for the supremacy of law. Judge Gadola is defending the judicial system against both the sit-downers ! and the corporation. (Copyright. 1937.1 - We, the People America’s Individualistic Civilization Is a Great Child Killer, Too. BY JAY FRANKLIN. THE tragedy at New London, Tex., where more than 400 school children lost their lives In a fearful and unexplained explosion which shat tered the town’s fine new school building, brought out the best in civilized human nature. The thrill of horror and sorrow ran like an electric shock through the entire Nation. National, State and local agencies rushed such aid and comfort as was passible and the disaster took precedence over the Spanish War, the Supreme Court fight and the sit down strikes, in a general wave of warm-hearted sympathy. If there is any human way of preventing such a massacre of the innocents, we shall doubtless discover it. But will we apply it? The ugly ^ 111 # laci remains inai 11 was me twin ness and size of the disaster, rather than the fact that children were needlessly slain, which evoked in stantaneous reaction. Year after year we kill far more children than perished at New London, and by clearly preventable causes of death, and laugh it off as part of the price of our individualistic civilization. For example, a leading insurance - company nas garnered ngures on traffic deaths among children during 1936. In that year 970 children of kindergarten age and 2,550 of school age (5 to 14) were run down and killed by automobiles. An additional 5,410 children in the same kindergarten and school-age groups were killed In automobile collisions, etc. Yet we know that effective legislation to enforce speed and traffic regulations and to restrict the issuance of drivers’ licenses to persons who can pass rigid physical and psychological tests would be fought to the death by the automotive industry as well as by the large number o1 automobile owners who would feel that their personal and property rights were invaded by such restrictions. It is not too much to say that we value the automobile at more than the lives of the 9,000 little children it kills a year. Then there are the deaths of children from preventable diseases, including the diseases of malnutrition (starvation or underfeeding). Such deaths reflect the defects of our economic and social system, for there are few parents who would grudge giving adequate medical care and decent food to their children, if they possessed the financial means of paying for them. It is, therefore, not too much to say that we consider the present unequal distribution of income and opportunity as being worth more than 14,000 children's lives a year. * * * * There is no space here to go into the matter of deaths involving children in industrial employment. That is another battle. Those whose aspirations ore lumped under the general name of the New Deal feel that the price is too high and that we cannot call ourselves a civilized nation so long as we are willing to march ahead over the bodies of our carelessly slaughtered children. And that is ichy, among other things, we are ready to take on the Con stitution and the Supreme Court, if necessary, to give reality to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" in this undisciplined country f of ours. An Iowa correspondent echoes the suggestion that non-lawyers be appointee to tne supreme uourt: "The Constitution is written in a simple manner and can be understood by any intelligent per son isays he). It should be inter preted in such a way as to promote the general welfare of the people. The lawyers know nothing about the needs of the people or about production and distribution of ne cessities and comforts. To promote G*5'* 1 // - me wenare oi me people ana in ■ ' « facilitate abundant production and distribution I would appoint the fol lowing men to the court: Walter Polakov. engineer; Harold Loeb, econ omist; Stuart Chase, economist; Oscar Ameringer, editor; Mack Rust, inventor; Jerome Davis, educator.” Adding to the Irish confetti directed at this column a Minneapolis reader writes: "It is too bad that Mr. Smith of Burlington called Mr. Jay Franklin a skunk. The skunks have good reason to complain.” Since neither Insult nor compliment can be regarded as arguments, without knowledge of the people who utter them, there is no point in quot ing the letters which urge: "Keep it up, Jay, old boy. You've got ’em on the run.” An American You Should Know Farrington Carpenter Shepherd of 142 Mil lion Acres. BY DELIA PYNCHON. WITHOUT exaggeration rar rington Carpenter is prob ably the greatest shepherd since the days of Father Abraham. As director of grazing, United States Department of Interior, Farrington mmmm m mmu Farriniton Carpenter. carpenter is na tional shepherd of 6,500,000 sheep, 1,500,000 cattle and thousands of horses and goats. Person ally he owns the seventh largest pure-bred Hereford herd of cattle in the U n i t ed States. Born in Evanston, 111., Farr lngton Carpenter, as a lad in high school, visited New Mex ico. The reafter me country naa mm nog-uea. Be fore graduating from Princeton and Harvard Law. he had filed a homestead claim in Hayden. Colo. With charac teristic directness. Mr. Carpenter ex plained his adventure in homesteading. "I built my own log cabin and started off with 25 Hereford cows in 1907. My Present herd of 600 is descended from that original stock.” Mr. Carpenter is married and has three children. Fif tyish, ruddy, spare, he bears witness to life in the open. As district attorney he bears witness to many cattla rus tling cases. Came Here in 1934. In 1934 Mr. Carpenter came to Washington to head the grazing divi sion. To “make the land bloom again” is the keynote of the entire grazing program. Mr. Carpenter knows his facts. He knows stockmen, he knows cattle. He loves the "good earth” and wants to preserve it. There are 142. 000,000 acres to patrol, control and preserve for present use and future generations. This vast domain is divided into 49 districts functioning in 10 States. Each district is about the size of the State of Connecticut. Unit Is Profit-Making. Each year Mr. Carpenter turns in a report to the Goverment that is a se cret envy, as well as a "pea in the shoe” to every other department. The budget is balanced in favor of th* United States Treasury! It takes $400,000 to run the grazing division. The Income is a cool million. Income comes from fees charged stockmen for grazing privileges. These run from 1 cent a head for sheep to 5 cents a head for cattle. Like the "five and dimes" the pennies come rolling in. 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