The Guffey-Snyder Coal Act was a law, officially known as the

Bituminous Coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...

Conservation Act of 1935, passed in the United States in 1935 under

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

as part of his

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

. It created the Bituminous Coal Commission to

set the price Price controls are restrictions set in place and enforced by governments, on the prices that can be charged for goods and services in a market. The intent behind implementing such controls can stem from the desire to maintain affordability of go ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and end other unfair practices of competition.https://www.nber.org/chapters/c2882.pdf The law also created the Bituminous Coal Labor Board to regulate maximum work hours and minimum wage but was later ruled to be

unconstitutional In constitutional law, constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applic ...

in ''

Carter v. Carter Coal Co. ''Carter v. Carter Coal Company'', 298 U.S. 238 (1936), is a United States Supreme Court decision interpreting the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, which permits the United States Congress to "regulate Commerce... among the seve ...

'' because the Supreme Court did not find the law's labor provisions to qualify as interstate commerce and therefore considered its actions beyond the jurisdiction of the federal government. It was replaced in 1937 with the Guffey-Vinson Coal Act, officially known as the Bituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1937, which was not ruled unconstitutional. The act resurrected the Bituminous Coal Commission and reinstated the provisions regarding price fixing and the regulation of unfair practices but removed the labor provisions of the previous act. In 1939, the Bituminous Coal Commission was abolished, and its duties were transferred to the US Department of the Interior.http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15760&st=&st1=#axzz1o0Kd9BZW The Act increased profits, wages, and union membership, and reduced strikes. However, it faced opposition from businesses, republicans and conservatives for too much government interference in business, many felt it was a socialist policy. Conservatives feared it would set a precedent for regulation to affect other industries and thus questioned if it was constitutional. Large consumers of coal also argued it would unreasonably increase prices, and operators from the south and west said it discriminated against low-wage and non-union mines.

References

5. https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/guffey-snyder-act-1935

See also

References

Further reading