New Deal legislation "Bituminous Coal Conservation Act of 1935" was meant to stabilize the coal industry by placing price ceilings and floors, regulating hours and wages of coal miners, and allowing for collective bargaining.
The suit challenged the constitutionality of the Act.
Procedural History:
SCOTUS held the Act unconstitutional.
Issues:
Does commerce include manufacturing and production?
Holding/Rule:
Just because a commodity will, in the future, be sold in interstate commerce does not give Congress the right under the Commerce Clause to regulate its production and manufacture before the interstate commerce occurs.
Commerce is only the trade of goods.
Reasoning:
The incidents leading up to and culminating in the mining of coal do not constitute intercourse sufficient for commerce.
Employment of men, fixing of their wages, hours, working conditions, etc. all constitute for the purposes of production, not of trade.
Mining brings the subject-matter of commerce into existence; commerce disposes of it.
Production is a purely local activity that should not be regulated by Congress.
Even though interstate commerce may be affected, such effect is secondary and indirect.
