SERIOUS SETBACK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 279, 28 November 1935, Page 8

SERIOUS SETBACK

AMERICAN RECOVERY ACT IMPORTANT COURT RULING WASHINGTON. Nov. 25. The Agricultural Adjustment Act, ths legality of which suffered many reverses in inferior Federal Courts, today received a serious setback before the Supreme Court, when an injunction was granted a group of Louisiana ricemillers denying the Government the right to collect processing taxes on that commodity pending a Court review of the constitutionality of the Act. The amount directly involved, some 240,000 dollars, representing September collections will be deposited with an agent appointed by the Court. The sum is not in itself important, but, as a precedent, threatens the financial structure of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and indirectly that of the Government itself for undoubtedly other processors will seek similar injunctions from the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, benefits to farmers must be increasingly paid from general Treasury funds. Agricultural Adjustment Act officials insist that adequate funds are available to carry out the programme but. hearings on the constitutionality of the Act. before the Supreme Court are not until December 16, and there is no way of knowing when the final decision will be handed down.