Supreme Court Rules NRA Unconstitutional

The United States Supreme Court in a unanimous deci' sion ruled that the National Industrial Recovery Act codes were unconstitutional on May 27. The court also held invalid provisions of the codes fixing wages and hours of labor within the states, The court unanimously ruled unconstitutional Section 3 of the NIRA, under which congress delegated to the President authority to make codes. The court held this authority had not been sufficiently limited or defined. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes read the decision. Justices Harlan F. Stone and Bejamin J. Catdoza concurred in its results in a separate opinion.

Briefly the 'court ruled that:

Congress had exceeded its authority when it delegated to the.executive branch of the government power to promulgate codes of fair competition having the force of law because it did not set up standards to guide the executive, and {or several other reasons.

The federal government has no power to regulate hours and wages in transactions affecting interstate commerce.

The court's opinion was delivered in the Schechter poultry, case from New York, selected by the government to test its power to regulate wages and hours of workers through more than 50O ,codes of fair competition.

The A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp., the Schechter Live Poultry Market, fnc., and four individuals composing the firms, engaged in the live poultry business in Brooklyn, were indicted for violating the live poultry code of fair competition and with conspiracy to violate the code' In the federal district court for eastern New York, the members of the two firms were found guilty on the conspiracy counts, and with their firms, were. found guilty on the remaining counts relating to trade practices. The second circuit court of appeals approved the convictions on seventeen counts, including conspiracy, and set aside the conviction on two counts, which charged violation of minimum wages and maximum hours provisions of the code. It held these two provisions unconstitutional'

The Supreme Court's opinion invalidating the NIRA affects 556 codes and 201 supplementary codes under which most of American business is operating.

Has Good Stock of Timbcrs

"We are fortunate in having a large and well assorted stock of timbers,." said A. F. Bulotti, secretary-treasurer of Loop Lumber Company, San Francisco, when asked recentiy how his firm is prepared to meet the increased jobbing demand occasioned by the Northwest lumber strike' Thii firm has for many years specialized in long and heavy timbers, and they bought heavily a few weeks ago to anticipate the strike.