Evening star. [volume], February 12, 1940, Page A-9, Image 9

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Labor Board
View on Role
Shocking
Right to Put
Language Into
Law Questioned
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Shall the laws of the United
States be made by a Congress
elected by the people or by boards
or commissions consisting of per
sons wno are
not elected at
all? If Congress
omits to pre
scribe penalties
or punishments,
shall boards or
commissions in
vent the power
to impose fines
on citizens?
These are fun
damental rights
that go to the
heart of the
American sys
tem of Govern
ment and the
David Lawrence.
average American ciuzen win
promptly answer both questions
with a feeling that it is almost
superfluous to ask them.
But the record shows that Con
gress alone does not make the laws
and that boards and commissions
in Washington have gone so far as
to write whatever laws they feel
are necessary without themselves
being responsible to the people
through the customary election
process.
Thus the National Labor Relations
Board members are not elected to
office. Congress, which is elected,
delegates certain power to boards
and commissions, but it is an old
rule that what is omitted from the
statute should not be written in by
anybody else except the Congress.
Yet a shocking instance has come
to light of the conception held by
members of the National Labor Re
lations Board—J. Warren Madden
and Edwin S. Smith—in w'hich they
boldly proclaim the right to put
language into a law that Congress
itself omitted. This w-ould seem in
credible were it not for the fact
that it appears in black and white
In the stenographic record of the
proceedings of the special House
committee investigating the labor
board.
Questioned on Board Ruling.
Representative Howard Smith of
Virginia, Democrat, chairman of the
committee, was questioning Mr.
Madden, the head of the labor board,
about a decision of the board to the
effect that a certain company re
fused to hire two men who had
never before been their employes.
The board ruled that the reason
for refusal to hire was their mem
bership in a union and ordered the
company to give the men jobs and
also pay them wages for the interval
of time that had elapsed between
the time the men applied and the
time the board made its ruling.
Chairman Smith was quite willing
to concede that if the two men had
been employed before by this com
pany and then had been dismissed
for union activity or membership,
the company could be required to
“reinstate” them, but he said he did
not think the word “reinstate” could
be construed to mean that nersons
who never were employes could be
“Instated,” so to speak. Here is the
colloquy in the committee hearing:
Chairman Smith—Then you don’t
think that the Congress by using
the word ‘‘reinstate” confined your
remedies to employes rather than to
persons who had never been em
ployed?
Mr. Madden—I meant to speak of
that as a matter of statutory inter
pretation. It seems to me that when
you look at the whole spirit and
purpose of this act (the National
Labor Relations Act), and when you
look at the evil of black lists, which
I say it is inconceivable that the
Congress intended should be with
out remedy—when you look at all
those things, it seems to me that
the little prefix “re”-instatement is
too slight and accidental a matter
of verbiage to control the whole
spirit and purpose of this statute.
Conception of Public Duty.
A little further on in the same
day's proceedings Chairman Mad
den boldly proclaimed his concep
tion of public duty as a member of
the labor board to include the right
to “invent” any remedy which the
courts subsequently did not repri
mand him or the board for using.
In other words, the citizen could be
punished as severely as the board
wished, subject only to the possi
bility that a Federal judiciary, now
more than 50 per cent appointed
ynder the New Deal, might check
the abuse of power. Here is the
quotation on invention of remedies:
Mr. Madden: * * * You will re
member that our statute, in giving
us the power to order a person to
cease and desist and to take such
affirmative action as will effectuate
the policies of the act, does give
us pretty broad power.
Chairman Smith—And it gives
you the right to construe it as you >
see fit, except as some court may |
later come along and say that you
have been mistaken?
Mr. Madden—Yes. What we would
Invent by way of remedy I take it j
would have to be a reasonable and i
not an arbitrary device to remedy \
the situation.
Power to Assess Fines.
The reading public can judge how \
reasonable or how arbitrary is the j
“remedy” selected by the board ‘
when it assumes the legislative l
power to impose fines that could j
amount to millions of dollars on a ’
company which in choosing between
several applicants prefers for rea
sons of its own certain prospective
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The Capital Parade
McNutt Appears Determined to Talk
His Way Into the White House
By JOSEPH ALSOP and ROBERT KINTNER.
The ardors of a presidential candidacy are hideously illustrated by
the recent career of Paul Vories McNutt. The McNutt boom turned out
to be rather a faint pop. The McNutt "green light from the White
House,” so loudly touted, ended by convincing no one but the incurably
color blind. The McNutt talents for self-explanation were put to a severe
test by John L. Lewis’ remarks on the use of troops in the Terre Haute
strike. Yet the McNutt campaign goes on.
Failing all else, Indiana’s pride appears to be grimly determined to
talk his way into the White House. The McNutt publicity organization,
which now has an annex in a Wash
mgion omce DUiming, is always busy
sending out McNutt speeches, elabo
rately mimeographed on a special
machine. Lately your correspond
ents have been treasuring these
master-works of oratory. Their
feeble arithmetic may be at fault,
but it appears to them that McNutt
does more talking than all the other
politicians in Washington—or at
least all the other politicians in
vvasningion well-heeled enough to afford a publicity organization and
mimeograph machines.
The quantity, if not invariably the quality, is truly impressive. Take,
for example, the period between January 13 and February 5. For most
men this was simply the unhappy fortnight in which the Christmas bills
finally had to be looked squarely in the face. But not for McNutt.
All Things to All Men
On January 13, he addressed the National Sojourners. On January 16
he gave a short inspirational talk to the Boston Chamber of Commerce
luncheon. On January 18, he was heard by the admiring ladies of the
General Federation of Women's Clubs, for whom he aptly discussed
“National Housekeeping.” On January 24. he spoke to the National Auto
mobile Dealers' Association and on January 25, having had just enough
time to catch his breath, he told the Women's National Democratic Club
for Life Members why “The Democratic Party Must Win.” On January 29
lie orated before the American Society of Landscape Architects. Two
days later, be participated in the Town Hall of the Air. And on February
5, he gave the Argo Lodge of B’nai B’rith the benefit of his winged words.
Have you got a national organization? Do you need a convention
or luncheon speaker? Apply to Paul Vories McNutt. He will talk on
almost anything you please. '
In the period named he warmly indorsed the N. Y. A. and C. C. C„
and pledged additional aid to unemployed youth. He spoke highly of
the Masons, admired the architects and the B’nai B’rith, and could be
relied to find some good in his audience somewhere. He came out
strongly for an increase in the standard of living, called ringingly for a
higher national income, and had a flattering word for the woman in
the home.
He also defended the reciprocal trade agreements, American foreign
policy and sound national defense. He justified Government regulation
of business, but was against regimentation and in favor of private
enterprise and individual initiative. He deprecated fear and reaction
approved an enlightened liberalism, and thought poorly of the Repub
licans, including their candidates. Dewey, Taft and Vandenberg. He
doubted the Republicans knowledge of true economy, doubted the
practicality of an immediately balanced budget, but warned against
governmental waste. He was all for conservation of national resources
highly approved of democracy and denounced dictatorship in the most
stirring terms. Indeed, he very nearly achieved the unusual feat of
being all things to all men.
King Killings
You may well inquire why on earth any man would wish to talk
i so much, especially since most of the rest of the McNutt time uDDears
to have been occupied in posing for
still and news reel photographers,
writing occasional magazine articles
and otherwise busying himself in
ways proper to a candidate. Cynics
will answer the B'nai B’riths. So
journers. magazine readers, even
landscape architects have votes.
But a shrewd and witty woman
came nearer the mark some years
ago when she went to anthropology
iui a pcuauci iui uui u.uaui^iiimi
elections. She compared them to the occasional king killings and priest
choosings by which ancient peoples sought to assure good weather and
fine crops. When you look closer, there is something obviously ritualistic,
something automatic and inspired in the McNutt goings on. Possibly they
will insure an ample corn harvest in Indiana.
(Released by North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.)
employes and rejects others. For
such selection, one company was
actually ordered by the labor board
to pay back wages for work never
done and to give the money to men
who never were hired or admitted
to the plant.
It is true that in the case under
discussion only two persons were
involved, but once the principle and
the precedent are established, any
body in America who feels aggrieved
about being rejected for a job could
i cite the labor board's ruling and
j initiate a case. Thus is a law or
ruling established which the Con
: gress of the United States not cnly
| never sanctioned but specifically
; failed to sanction when it used a
| word that means “re-employ” ln
I stead of “employ.”
The Smith committee hearings
i are full of shocking disclosures of
! this kind which, for one reason or
! another, have not been widely
printed these' last few days. The
episode quoted above occurred in
open hearings on the afternoon of
February 5. Why was its significance
so generally overlooked? Few things
could hardly be of more importance
to the citizen than the seizure of
legislative power by boards and com
missions and bureaus in Washing
ton.
President's Mother Asks
Action Against Japan
Mrs. James Roosevelt, the Presi
dent’s mother, heads a list of 50
public officials, civic leaders, educa
tors, clergymen, editors, writers and
others who have written to Presi
dent Rosevelt urging removal of
Japan from its present “most
favored-nation” status in commerce
with the United States. ,
Asking that Japan “be made to
feel immediately the moral con
demnation of the American people
for her illegal and unjustified inva
sion of China,'’ the letter recom
mends that the President apply pen
alties provided in section 338 of the
Tariff Act of 1930 against Japanese
exports and stop ‘‘America’s par
ticipation in Japan's aggression,
which * • • is in direct violation
of • • * the nine-power treaty.”
Washington traffic victims last year
who were 75 years of age and over
accounted for 15.3 per cent of the
total of 85 fatalities, although that
particular age group formed only 1.6
per cent of the population.
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CTHS opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
x 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
themselves and directly opposed to The Star's.
Washington Observations
Roosevelt's Attack on Russia Rates Him Tops
For Courage and Statesmanship
By FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
Since his two-fisted, sledge-ham
mer speech to the Youth Congress
at the White House, Franklin D.
Roosevelt rates In this column's estl
Aim turn eta uu
qualified tops for
courage and
statesman
ship. No poli
tician within my
recollection dur
ing 20 years of
observation o f
the Washington
scefle ever rose
to a finer exhi
bition of intesti
n a 1 investiture
and wisdom.
The President
would have been
brave and
Frederic William Wile.
sLuwfMimnuKe n ne naa oeei hurling
his thunderbolts only at the rain
soaked, political babes in arms who
constituted his visible audience, but
he was tilting at mighty Red Russia,
at Communism and at its despotic
djctator, Joseph Stalin, whom he
did ncft hesitate so to stigmatize.
I wonder what our young friend
Constantine Oumansky, the Soviet
Ambassador.'thought of it all as he
mused before his radio in the Six
teenth street Soviet Embassy and
heard the President of the United
States denounce the U. S. S. R. in
more candid terms than probably
ever before were publicly addressed
under nominally peaceful conditions
to another power with which this
country is in formally friendly rela
tions. Oumansky and Stalin must
have had difficulties in persuading
themselves that the Roosevelt who
gave Red Russia such an unabashed
lacing is thei same Roosevelt, who
in 1933 agreed to accord Moscow
diplomatic recognition.
* * * *
"Unadulterated Twaddle.”
If F. D. ft. handed the Soviet
Union a shellacking, it was almost
a benediction compared to the
tongue lashing he dealt to the half
baked Youth Congress delegates, on
the subject of Finland. They winced
perceptibly under his twice-uttered
charge that it is simply “unadul
terated twaddle" for them to suggest
that American aid to the Finns in
their struggle of defense against
Russia would lead to the United
States’ involvement in “imperialistic
war." Nor $lid the beardless ism
ites who constitute the rank and file
of the so-called youth movement
relish the President's thrust that
they are often the victims of infor
mation on subjects of which their
own ignorance must be profound,
supplied by leaders and pleaders
whose lack of knowledge on issues
like budgetary requirements and
national defense is equally abysmal.
F. D. R. was particularly effective
when he warned his starry-eyed
young visitors hot to rush into the
passage of resolutions from which
angels would shrink, but to “keep
their feet on the ground” and not
be carried away by the ideological
fantasy that the crime, cruelty and
chaos called Soviet Russia can ever
be an acceptable substitute for the
democracy called America.
* V * *
A Unique Appointment.
Whatever he accomplishes, or fails
to accomplish, the dispatch of Sum
ner Welles to Western Europe to ex
plore wartime conditions is another
Rooseveltian master stroke. * I sup
pose that with the exceptions of
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas
Jefferson, the United States has
never in its history sent a more
thoroughly equipped special Am
bassador on a critical mission to the
other side of the Atlantic.. Cer
tainly no man in the country’s con
temporary foreign service ever
measured up to the Undersecretary
of State’s stature in caliber, sea
soned background and well-rounded
up-to-date knowledge of world af
fairs. To these professional attain
ments Welles adds some personal
qualities no less rare-. He knows
how to enact a Dr. Jekyll or Mr.
Hyde role alternately as situations
require, on occasion can be as icily
cold and impervious as a highly
polished ball of steel, and in the
next moment as genial and pliable
as a dove. If any evidence in sub
stantiation of Welles’ ability to play
a diplomatic Lon Chaney is needed,
Washingtonians have only to con
sult Hans Thomsen, German
Charge d’Affaires. as to how the
Undersecretary of State comports
himself when receiving an official
Nazi complaint or any Latin-Ameri
can statesmen who have had con
tact with Welles’ suavity as a con
ciliator in pan-American contro
versies. The Undersecretary’s path
in London, Paris. Rome and Ber
lin will be smoothed by the knowl
edge that he is President Roose
velt's closest confidential adviser on
foreign affairs.
* * * *
Third-Term Politics?
Naturally those many minds in
Washington which see a politician
lurking behind every tree and a
political motive behind his every
thought are persuaded that Roose
velt's "peace offensive” is third
term stuff, sprung, as usual, with
his uncanny sense of timing. What
ever it is, it spikes the guns of those
who accuse him of a passion to lead
the United States “down the road j
to war”—a phrase, I think, patented
by Hiram Johnson when the admin
istration arms-embargo repeal plans
were first disclosed. If Roosevelt fs
ready to be drafted for another four
years—as this observer has always
believed he is—about the surest way
he could choose for guaranteeing
either his rejection by the Demo
cratic National Convention or at
the polls in November would be to
run. or even to appear to be running,
as an advocate of war. If the age
of miracles is not past and Sumner
Welles’ negotiations with the bel
ligerents, coincident with Secretary
Hull’s discussions with the neutrals,
should combine to pave the way to
We, the People
Hatch Act May Become Big Factor in Campaign;
Is Seen, in Fact, as Possible Third-Term Aid
By JAY FRANKLIN.
Although the Hatch Act is not particularly popular among the
political chickens which come home to roost in 1040, it shows no sign of
having “laid an egg." In fact, as the smoke clears away, it appears that
this bitterly contested measure may become a major factor in the political
campaign.
I have frequently referred to the law prohibiting certain improper
political activities as the “pure politics” law—a label to which Senator
can A. Match or New Mexico, the
^sponsor of the measure, strenuously
objects. His objection is valid in
sofar as the descrtption implied
serious doubts on my part as to the .
political altruism of the Senator’s
motives. I wish now to state that
1 no longer harbor such doubts and
that I am pretty well convinced that
the Hatch Act, whatever its effect
on the 1940 Democratic Convention,
was not intended by its sponsor to
uBMiotiuig me i'icw ljcal ui lu aavtuicc tnc pouucai xurtunes oi vice
President Gamer and other rivals of President Roosevelt. »
In point of fact, although the law as now drafted seems to shift
political control to the State machines and the urban bosses, it may
actually aid the third-term movement. If Mr. Roosevelt were renominated
in a convention packed and dominated by Federal officeholders under
presidential control—and such things have happened in our history—the
people would be entitled to resent his candidacy as a machine-made
maneuver to impose Roosevelt on them and would exact reprisals at the
polls. If he is nominated by a convention composed of delegates who are
freed from the chains of patronage, it would be a guarantee to the genuine
ness of the popular demand for Roosevelt and could not be attacked as a
dictated candidacy.
Same Foes Today as in 1932
As a matter of fact, many of the same bosses who opposed Roosevelt
in 1932 oppose him today and at that time he had no Federal patronage
with which to pack the convention.
In any case, something like the Hatch Act is needed, as an incident
to the Federal Government's position as employer and also to insure free
and uncoerced elections. Little public attention has been drawn to
section 1 of the act, which provides: "That it shall be unlawful for any
person to Intimidate, threaten or coerce, or to attempt to intimidate,
threaten or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with
the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose. * * •”
Since the United States Government happens to be the greatest
single employer of labor in the United States, there is a clear case, as an
incident to the growing problem of governmental labor relations, for an
ordinance which will deny to the Government what it forbids to private
employers.
All Sections Being Studied
The Justice Department is now studying all sections of the Hatch Act
with a view to their application during the coming campaign. Special at
tenuon is Deing given to section 1
and the whole measure is regarded
In legal circles as the introduction
to a movement for a Federal elec
tions law which will establish uni
form regulations for voting for any
elective Federal office. That such
a law is needed is scarcely open to
doubt, but the Supreme Court will
have to reverse itself—which has
happened in other matters—on the
4-to-4 decision in the Smith case.
/'\\ !<■<■ f<«D Out wUaT
\ X you At* ACC about/
remaps a runng on me lennessee pou tax case will open the judicial door
to this reform.
Finally, I think I owe it to Senator Hatch to clear him entirely of
suspicion that his bill was animated by narrow political motives. In the
course of a heart-to-heart interview, the Senator told me:
“First, you are wrong in labeling me a ‘Gamerite.’ I am not. It is
true that the Vice President, from the first, supported my legislation, but
you must not assume from that that I am a 'Gamer man.’ If President
Roosevelt is renominated for a third term, he will receive my support 100
per cent. Otherwise. I have made no commitments.”
(Released by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.)
peace before Hitler's “total war”;
starts, Roosevelt's luster as a peace
maker would be unquestionably daz
zling. * * * *
Melting Pot at Work.
Under the caption of “clear-eyed
youth,” today’s Lincoln Day issue of
the American Observer, Washington
political weekly, adorns its front
page with a photograph of 19-year
old James Wong of the Lincoln High
School of Portland, Oreg., of which
he has just been elected student
body president. Wong is a native
born American of Chinese parents.
It is considered noteworthy that an
event probably unique In American
public school history should have
taken place as an expression of
democracy in a sfchool named after
the Great Emancipator and on the
Pacific Coast, at that. Our laws
deny Jimmy Wong's parents the
right of naturalization and of citi
zenship, but he himself, a citizen by
constitutional right of birth, is not
barred from election to the presi
dency of the United States.
———
OLD TRICKS
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War Cause
Of 3d-Term
Silence
Roosevelt's 1937
'Quarantine'
Speech Recalled
By CHARLES G. ROSS.
It continues to be true, in the
opinion of this writer, that one
great reason why President Roose
velt has remained silent on the
Charles C. Ross.
imra-ierm ques
tion — and bo
kept himself a
potential candi
date for a third
term—is to be
found in the
foreign situa
tion.
He has been
actuated as well,
no doubt, by the'
desire to keep
his influence
in Congress, and
h i s Influence
over the party
nomination for
president ana tne party platform,
at full strength. In this fact there
is the obvious explanation for the
mystery he has created. It is, how
ever, a fair inference from the
course he has pursued in foreign
affairs that the dominant motive
for his silence has to do with the
foreign relations of the United
States, rather than with domestic
politics.
Considerations of domestic pol
itics would have yielded by this
time to the demand that he declare
himself, the writer believes, had it
not been for the line he has mapped
out for himself in foreign relations.
Through the acts of the Roose
velt administration in the foreign
field there has run the consistent
thread of a determination to balk,
so far as possible, by "measure short
of war" the advance of the aggres
sor nations.
“Quarantine” Speech Recalled.
The key to the Roosevelt policies
in this respect is in the Chicago
"quarantine” speech of October,
1937. Toward the goal set up in
this address the President has pro
ceeded as far as the state of public
opinion at any given time would let
him go. He was able to procure,
for example, the repeal of the arms
embargo, so that munitions could be
sold to the allies, but he was unable
to win the full measure of the dis
cretionary powers that he felt the
executive should have.
Since that time, the apparent
growth of isolationist sentiment in
the country, joined with the immi
nence of the presidential election,
has caused him'to move with ex
treme caution, as in the matter of
the Finnish loan. But never has
there been any weakening of the
President's conviction that this
country, in its own selfish interest,
should go the limit—short of war—
to check the spread of the dictator
ships.
It will have been noticed that in
his speech of Saturday to the Amer
ican Youth Congress Mr. Roosevelt
minced no words in his denuncia
tion of Russia for its invasion of
Finland. His extreme critics will
say that he did this because he is a
candidate for re-election and wants
to ride a popular tide of feeling. I
think not, though if he is a candi
date, the speech will do him no
harm.
istn occasion to Full.
He spoke as he did—condemning
Communism in unmeasured terms,
linking it up with Hitlerism—be
cause the soil of public opinion had
been made fertile for his words by
the Nazi-Soviet pact and the bar
baric attack on Finland. He knew
that in this case he could speak his
mind without affronting public
opinion and he used the occasion
to the full. What he said about aid
to Finland—that it was "silly” to
suppose that such aid would lead us
into war with Russia—fits the gen
eral pattern of his thought that we
should use all measures short of
war to put down the aggressor na
tions.
In reply to a third-term question
at one of his press conferences the
President observed, in effect, that
he had a sense of timing. So he has,
and there is evidence of the fact in
his fiery outburst against autarchic
government at this particular time.
But what is the connection be
tween the President’s foreign policy
and the third-term riddle? Here
again his sense of timing has been
manifest. He has not committed
himself irrevocably to private life
after 1940 because—for one great
reason—he has felt that to do this
would weaken his hand in the strug
gle against Hitlerism. In a sense,
he has thus taken part in a war of
nerves.
Move Against Hitler.
If he had said before Munich,
before the invasion of Poland, before
any of the successive crises which
have tortured Europe, that he was
definitely on the way out of the
presidency, his act would have been
an encouragement to Hitler to
march. This would have been true
because of the strong line that
Roosevelt has taken against Hitler.
One deterrent to further aggression
by Hitler—uneasiness as to what the
man of the Chicago quarantine
speech might do—would have been
removed. It was Roosevelt’s proper
role, as he saw it, to keep Hitler
guessing: to prevent war if he could,
or, at the least, to hold off war as
long as possible, while the enemies
of Hitler improved their defenses.
The fact that Hitler was not
stopped and that finally England
ana France were involved is beside
the point. Roosevelt did what he
could, and the mystery he made
of his third-term intentions was a
part of his method. It is a plausible
theory that the war between Ger
many and the allies would have
come sooner but for his efforts.
But what of the prolongation of
Roosevelt’s silence down to the pres
ent? That is a harder question.
His silence is still, however, con
nected with the foreign situation.
In the terribly uncertain state of
world affairs he seeks to maintain
his political stature at its most com
manding height. But the time
draws near when he can only do
this by running again—and getting
elected. Is this what he wishes—
another term? The answer, I think,
is no, but with this qualification:
That eventualities are conceivable,
in our foreign relations, in which he
will run. His decision waits upon
events. He has a sense of timing.
District automobile drivers last year
with experience ranging from six
months to 15 yean were involved in
57 fatal accidents as compared with
57 involving driven with from 16
to M yean* experience.