V.gabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

"The Constitution is $one," declared Justice McReynolds of the United States Supreme Court, in his dissenting opinion on the gold case.

Looks to me like the old gentleman is slow in catching on. Most of the men I know have been saying that for the past year or more. We've lost the s-acredness of contracts, property rights, the value of written promises, the law of supply aad demand, and-rnest of the old-fashioned fundamentals. About all we've got left to cling to--we oldfashioned folks-is the provability of the Law of Gravity, the purgative properties of Castor Oil, and the killing qualities of Carbolic Acid. And, I want to warn the New Dealers not to tamper with any of those last three. In spite of any modernistic decrees, THOSE THREE WILL REALLY OPERATE.

Every now and .nur, *lurlr ]u"a of some new monkey business to harass the'already harassed and to depress the already depressed, I sort of wish some of those ground-andlofty experimenters WOULD pass a rule repudiating the good old law of gravity, and then jump off some high building to prove their faith.

What wouldn't I have been willing to give for a cloak of invisibility in which to visit the private chambers of the United States Supreme Court when those nine august gentlemen were discussing the merits of the gold case. Judging from what four of them said in public at the time the decision was announced, don't you know some fine phrases must have been flung back and forth irt private? But when they threw open the doors for the public to enter, the score stood five for the New Deal and four for the Constitution. Lucky for the New Dealers they didn't have to have a unanimous verdict, like they do in any court of. law, isn't it?

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What will be the direct and practical effect of the gold case decision on business? Durned if I can tell. Over the short route it relieved all rninds of the danger of immediate chaos that might have followed a decision adverse to the Government. I imagine five gentlemen of the Supreme Court had that in the forefront of their rninas. But over the long route, what? * * ,r

In my judgment our delayed return to normalcy has been principally predicated on the lack of confidence in the minds of people who own property and money. Is it going to restore confidence to these prospective employers of our unemployed to know that our dollar may be anything Congress seeks to declare it? WiU it enthuse them to the point of busying their cash and their property to realize that a dollar may be redeemable in so many seashells next week, where gold was once the medium of measurement?

I'll forgive them anythrr, ; ;""" things they are doing will accomplish the purposes we all hope for, put people back to work, and get business going. If it will get the steel industry and the lumber industry and the other basic industries back something like where they used to be, I,ll agree to stand and call them blessed. So in my own mind I occupy the peculiar position of a man who hopes that things will come RIGHT*from efforts that look WRONG.

Soon they will be debating the continuation of NRA. I would like to see minimum wages and maximum hours continued-AND ENFORCED-in all the major industries, and the rest of NRA cast aside entirely. f won't get my wish, but that doesn't keep me from wishing. I'd like to see them take the motor off the wheel that has been turning the stream of business for the past two years, and see if the old stream wouldn't do a little turning on its ownaccount' * * *

I'm not changing my mind in the least. I never believed in the Code system of helping business, never said I did, and have seen nothing since the Codes came in to make me change my mind. Keep out child labor; keep rulbs of fair working hours and of fair wages to keep the hogs that have always pervaded the world from misusing their fellow-men; and turn business loose to operate under tfie laws of the land and of nature. The best thing I ever knew about the Codes was that they furnished employment for a lot of mighty fine men who by reason of the depression were without employment. fndustry, when its wheels really turn, will absorb those inen.

The best news that ""; ;*: out of Washington today would be the definite announcement that the reductioh of bureaus and of bureaucratic governmental efforts would be the immediate business of the adfninistration. Any man who doesn't realize that the growing tide of bureaucracy utterly frightens every thinking person, has lost his powers either of reason or of observation. If ever men were sick and tired of anything, business men in this country are weary unto death of realizing that every time they raise their heads they will probably encounter the gaze of some other government guy who wants to know all about their private affairs.

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But there is no sign yet of abatement along that line. As I write these lines there stares back at me from the front page of the rnorning paper announcement of more bureaus in contemplation that will have to do with business. That's what comes of having too many men who know nothing of business do our business thinking for us. Just how and why they figure that more and more harnesses upon business will help make business better, the Lord in His infinite mercy only knows?

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It's another vicious circle. They. want to increase the business shackles until business gets better, whereas the fact is that business will never get better until they begin taking off the shackles. The convalescent will never re' gain the power to walk by being loaded down with braces, crutches, and supporters. Some day they must take them off and let him learn to walk under his own power. Some day we'll learn that.

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The optimistic seeker today finds a number of good omens. All observers have noted the apparently definite swing to the right of Mr. Roosevelt of late. Some well known writer opines that business is not better because the President is turning toward conservatism, but that the President turns toward conservatism because business is better. Anyway, business notes with considerable show of pleasure that Mr. Roosevelt definitely swings to the right of late; and that in itself has helped business. ***

I think we are creeping up the hill. I am impatient because the improvement is so slow in the building industry. I believe that there is a step-up apparent in t*re consump' tion of lumber. It is not great, as yet, but it is in the right direction. By the time spring opens the new building phase of the Federal Housing Act should be playing a very impressive part in the building drama, and early summer may see some very much improved building conditions. We may really get to selling some lumber for the first time in a number of Years. ***

A reservoir of credit for good building paper is the in-

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