NIRA and NRA NIRA – National Industrial Recovery Act 1933 NRA – National Recovery Administration Head = General Hugh ‘Iron Pants’ Johnson Hard drinker, flew between cities in a plane drumming up support. “May god almighty have mercy on anyone who attempts to interfere with the blue eagle”. He also threatened them with public boycotts and a punch on the nose!

Blue eagle, big parades e.g. NYC 1933 watched by 1.5 million people. Fair prices for goods/services, minimum wages for workers, limited hours (40 hour working week). Unions allowed. Sets of codes (more than 500) for different industries such as dog food code, shoulder pad code, strip club code!! Cotton textile industry code stopped child labour in cotton mills “That makes me personally happier than any one thing I have been connected with since I came to Washington”. FDR. In New Jersey a Taylor named Jacob Maged sent to jail for pressing a suit for 35 cent and not Taylor’s code price of 40 cent!!!! Easy to set codes but difficult to have people obey them. Henry Ford opposed to it! Created 2 million jobs but became the scapegoat as economy showed no signs of immediate recovery.

Success or Failure? Successes: One part of NIRA created Public Works Administration which created jobs and public works schemes. Approximately 23,000,000 worked under NRA

Failures: NRA too vast, put together in too much of a hurry. Therefore success only temporary (limited). NRA could not enforce rules and violations of codes were common. Black markets grew up which needed forceful police methods to ensure adherence of the codes. In 6 months after NIRA industrial production dropped by 25%. Through the whole of the NRA period industrial production didn’t rise as high as it had in 1933 before the NRA! Minimum wage law meant that the unskilled, young, inexperienced and disadvantaged were priced out of the labour market. 500, 000 blacks out of work due to NRA. Ultimately a failure - Stopped after 2 years (in 1935) after Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional ruling that it infringed the separation of powers under the US Constitution. (Many of its labor provisions reappeared in the National Labour Relations Act (Wagner Act), passed later the same year).

‘Sick Chicken Case’ or Schechter Poultry Corporation Vs United States – May 1935. Supreme Court declared NRA unconstitutional. Code regulated the trade of chickens in the NY area, this not allowed as commerce clause of US constitution says all states allowed to trade freely with each other, President and Congress not allowed to intervene. Govt. argued that because of depression they should have special dispensation. Judge re. why he wouldn’t wavier the constitution because of the depression. “Extraordinary conditions do not create or enlarge constitutional power.” Constitution is/should be strong enough to stand up in special circumstances e.g. times of war. When Supreme court declared poultry code illegal all other automatically null en void! Supreme Court tried 16 cases against alphabet agencies, 11 were deemed unconstitutional. Fed govt. responsible for matters effecting all states, not individual states. State govt. responsible for their own affairs.