War Legislation
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR LEGISLATION
The American Revolution affords many precedents for extensive and detailed regulation of the nation's economy in time of war. But since the resolves of Congress under the Articles of Confederation were in practical effect mere recommendations to the State legislatures, it was the action of the latter which made these policies effective. On November 22, 1777, for example, Congress recommended to the States that they take steps "to regulate and ascertain the price of labour, manufactures, [and] internal produce."[1249] A month later the same body further recommended "to the respective legislatures of the United States, forthwith to enact laws, appointing suitable persons to seize and take, for the use of the continental army of the said States, all woolen cloths, blankets, linens, shoes, stockings, hats, and other necessary articles of clothing, * * *"[1250] Responding to such appeals, or acting on their own initiative, the State legislatures enacted measure after measure which entrenched upon the normal life of the community very drastically. Laws were passed forbidding the distillation of whiskey and other spirits in order to conserve grain supplies;[1251] fixing prices of labor and commodities, sometimes in greatest detail;[1252] levying requisitions upon the inhabitants for supplies needed by the army;[1253] and so on. In one instance a statute authorized the erection of an arms manufactory for the United States;[1254] in another, Negro Slaves were impressed for labor on fortifications.[1255] The fact that all this legislation came from the State legislatures whereas the war power was attributed to the "United States in Congress assembled" served to obscure the fact that the former was really an outgrowth of the latter.
CIVIL WAR LEGISLATION
The most pressing economic problem of the Civil War was that of finance. When Congress found itself unable to raise money to pay the soldiers in the field, it authorized the issuance of Treasury notes which, although not redeemable in specie, were made legal tender in payment of private debts. Upon its first consideration of this measure, the Supreme Court held it unconstitutional. It concluded that even if the circulation of such notes was facilitated by giving them the quality of legal tender, that result did not suffice to make the expedient an appropriate and plainly adapted means for the execution of the power to declare and carry on war.[1256] Three of the seven Justices then constituting the Court dissented from this decision,[1257] and it was reversed within a little more than a year, after two vacancies in the membership of the Court had been filled. One of the grounds relied upon by the new majority to sustain the statute was that the exigencies of war justified its enactment under the necessary and proper clause.[1258]
WORLD WAR I LEGISLATION
In meeting the strain which World War I put on our national resources of men and material, the economic activities of the people were directed or restricted by the Government on a scale previously unparalleled. The most sweeping measure of control was the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act,[1259] which authorized the President to regulate by license the importation, manufacture, storage, mining or distribution of necessaries; to requisition foods, feeds, and fuels; to take over and operate factories, packinghouses, pipelines, mines or other plants; to fix a minimum price for wheat; to limit, regulate or prohibit the use of food materials in the production of alcoholic beverages; and to fix the price of coal and coke and to regulate the production, sale and distribution thereof. Other statutes clothed him with power to determine priority in car service,[1260] to license trade with the enemy and his allies,[1261] and to take over and operate the rail and water transportation system,[1262] and the telephonic and telegraphic communication systems,[1263] of the country.
WORLD WAR II LEGISLATION
Several of these World War I measures were still on the statute books when World War II broke out. Moreover, in the period of preparation preceding the latter, Congress had enacted the Priorities Act of May 31, 1941[1264] which gave the President power to allocate any material where necessary to facilitate the defense effort. By the Second War Powers Act,[1265] passed early in 1942, the authority to allocate materials was extended to facilities. These two acts furnished the statutory foundation for the extensive system of consumer rationing administered by the Office of Price Administration, as well as for the comprehensive control of industrial materials and output which was exercised by the War Production Board. Under the Emergency Price Control Act[1266] the Office of Price Administration regulated the price of almost all commodities, as well as the rentals for housing accommodations in scores of defense rental areas. The War Labor Disputes Act[1267] permitted the President to commandeer plants which were closed by strikes.
MOBILIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES