LIBERALS ARE ALARMED OVER EFFECTS OF HARMLESS LOOKING BILL
Crawford, Kenneth
Liberals Are Alarmed Over Effects of Harmless Looking Bill Logan-Walter Measure Seen As Dangerous Claim It Would Wipe Out Major Gains During the New Deal By KENNETH CRAWFORD WASHINGTON. D. C—The...
...Hatch thai 'the principles incorpora ed in this bill cannot be denied by any firm believer in our democratic principles of government.'" The most comprehensive attack or...
...Now it is in charge of Sen...
...Rep...
...All of this, according to some experts on administrative law...
...There will be a battle comparable with the fight over proposed reorganization of the supreme court...
...He bluntly charges slipshod drafting and careless consideration by :he congressional committees concerned...
...The ABA and various other conservative organizations are still its chief backers...
...Effectiveness Menaced The bill has been attacked recently not only by those who believe in strong federal government but by some apparently impartial legal authorities...
...Strongest organized support, for the Logan-Walter bill comes from the ABA's committee on administrate law, of which Col...
...O. R. McGuirc is chairman, and from the National Association of Women Lawyers, which has appointed Miss Adele I. Springer of 60 Wall st„ as chairman of its committee on administrative law to direct a national campaign in cooperation with the Bar Association's committee...
...The announced purpose of the legislation is to impose uniform rules of procedure on some 130 administrative departments, agencies and bureaus of the government...
...Others contend that such reforms are necessary to safeguard citizens from oppression by government agencies acting as judge, jury and prosecutor—a complaint most frequently applied to the NLRB There is general agreement on the fact that the federal government has been expanding its activities for years and building up a process under which congress and the president delegate powers of law enforcement to subordinate departments...
...Former Assistant Secretary of Treasury Acheson, writing an interim report for the attorney general's loin-mi.tee on administrative procedure, warns against 'prcmatrre and facile generalization" and expresses skepticism of any ".single formula...
...If a trial court Judge unwittingly errs, his decision can be appealed to an appellate court and then resort may be had to the U. S. supreme court, but when administrative officials, some of whom are not even lawyers, unfairly, arbitrarily or mistakenly abuse their power, the citizen, in many instances, is powerless to obtain any relief...
...This is what they say about it: Proponents: The U. S. government is drifting into dictatorship and unless the Logan-Walter bill is passed the constitution will go by the boards and every American citizen stands to lose his liberties...
...I expect to support and vote for the Logan-Walter bill...
...A similar position is taken by Frederick 1...
...Walter (D-Pa.i...
...The New Deal and assorted liberal organizations like the Lawyers' Guild are leading the opposition...
...The bill was drafted by the American Bar association's committee on administrative law and originally sponsored by the late Sen...
...Opponents: The l\ S. govevrnment Ls doing a good job of protecting Americans from predatory interests and if the bill is passed it will wipe out liberal gains that have taken 50 years to achieve and completely demoralize the machinery of government...
...the bill has been written by Alfred Jaretzki, a member of the Administrative Law committee of the Assn...
...Obviously, neither congress nor the president can give personal attention to the manifold functions of government...
...Jessie Sumner, only womai, lawyer in congress and a former Judge in Illinois, recently declared...
...In other words, where It received prates', s from persons familiar with the particular problems of a government agency the committee that drafted the bill decided not to interfere with cui-rcnt dractice.s...
...In that respeci it will be another contest like the one over the reorganization bill...
...Blachly and Dr...
...He points out that several agencies like the Federal Tr?de commission are exempt from the operations of the law aid concludes that ;he:;c exemptions were made on I he recommendation of standing committees of the ABA dealing with the problems of these agencies...
...of the Bar of the city of New Ycrk...
...Why," Miss Springer asks, "should the decisions of administrative agencies have greater weight than the decisions of our lower courts...
...and the ICC to hold formal public hearings before promulgating rules and regulations and then to submit these rules and regulations to the V- S. Circuit Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia for approval or disapproval...
...LIKE COURT BILL FIGHT When the measure comes up again, as it will in both House and Senate before the close of the current session, there will be no unanimity anywhere along the legislative line...
...The sponsors already are calling their opponents Reds and the opposition is calling the bill s sponsors reactionary wreckers...
...And the shooting wi 1 be justified whether one accepts the statements of its proponents or its opponents...
...On the surface, this purpose is so unexciting and laudable that the measure to achieve it was approved by a senate committee without formlity of hearings, by a House committee after only perfunctory hearings and last year got through the senate itself by-unanimous consent, only to be recalled for reconsideration...
...would have the effect of ham-stringing the government and providing a way our for persons and organizations subjected to regulation in the public interest...
...King iD-Ctah) and Rep...
...The public will get little but the epithets and tags because the subject is highly technical...
...He calls the bill "fatally defective," "poorly drafted" and "fanta.s.ic in its application to many of the situations thai are embraced within its scope...
...11) Expand the power of the courts to pass on appeals from the rulings of V. S. authorities...
...D. C—The roughest fight of the current session of congress is about to be waged over an innocent-looking item of legislation called the Logan-Walter Administrative law bill...
...I agree with the statement recently issued by Sen...
...Measure's Provisions Boiled down to essence, what the bill would do is this: (1) Require administrative agencies like the NLRB, the wage-hour division of the Labor dept., the Pure Food and Drug administration of the Agriculture dept...
...He says Judges lack the specialized knowledge necessary to pass on the decisions of department heads and 'to give to them the final say in these milters would simply multiply the confusion and the difficulties...
...The New Deal has merely followed a trend that predated it by a half-century in creating many new agencies...
...Logan iD-Ky...
...They contend that the du.ies of various government agencies are so diverse that they cannot be subjected to uniform procedure without destroying their effectiveness...
...Dean Lloyd Garrison of the University of Wisconsin Law School, former chairman of the labor board, also has' disapproved the legislation...
...Miriam E. Oatman in a recent .study published by the i Brookings institution...
...2) Create intra-departmental boards of review to pass on rulings handed down by top administrators...
Vol. 10 • March 1940 • No. 12
