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Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

CEA CASES 

NAME: SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE V. HENRY C. GATLIN 

CITATION: 1 Agric. Dec. 423 

DOCKET NUMBER: 32 

DATE: JUNE 25, 1942 

DOCUMENT TYPE: DECISION AND ORDER 

(A. D. 146) 

BEFORE THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 

 

SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, Complainant v. HENRY C. GATLIN, Respondent. CE-A 

Docket No. 32. Proceedings, Findings of Fact, Conclusions, and Order. 

PROCEEDINGS

On May 5, 1942, a complaint was issued by Thomas J. Flavin, Assistant to the 

Secretary of Agriculture, pursuant to the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended (7 

U. S. C. 1940 ed. 1 et seq.), against Henry C. Gatlin, Chicago, Illinois, the 

respondent. 

The complaint alleged that Henry C. Gatlin, during the year 1941, was a 

member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a contract market designated as such 

by the Secretary of Agriculture under the Commodity Exchange Act. While engaged 

in business as a floor 

 

 

broker and registered as such with the Secretary of Agriculture, the respondent, 

in executing orders for the purchase or sale of potatoes, eggs, and butter for 

future delivery on and subject to the rules of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange 

for and on behalf of various clearing members, without the prior consent of the 

customer for whom he was executing these orders, became the purchaser for his 

own account with respect to selling orders and the seller for his own account 

with respect to buying orders. 

A hearing was set for May 28, 1942, in Chicago. Prior to the date set for 

hearing, Henry C. Gatlin, the respondent, executed a document entitled 

"Admission of Facts, Waiver of Hearing and Consent to Order" in which he 

acknowledged receipt of a copy of the complaint in this proceeding, admitted the 

allegations contained therein, waived a hearing on the complaint, and consented 

to the entry, without further notice to him, of an order by the Secretary of 

Agriculture, based upon the facts alleged in the complaint and admitted by the 

respondent, together with the facts stated in a statement signed by the 

respondent on April 23, 1942. 

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Henry C. Gatlin is an individual who, during the year 1941, was engaged in 

business as a floor broker at Chicago, Illinois, and is at present so engaged 

and has been registered with the Secretary of Agriculture as a floor broker 

under the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act since September 4, 1941. 

2. During the year 1941, the respondent was a member of the Chicago 

Mercantile Exchange, a contract market designated as such by the Secretary of 

Agriculture under the Commodity Exchange Act. 

3. The respondent, during the calendar year 1941, while engaged as a floor 

broker in executing orders for the purchase or sale of potatoes, eggs, and 
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butter for future delivery on and subject to the rules of the Chicago Mercantile 

Exchange for and on behalf of various clearing members, did, without the prior 

consent of the customer for whom he was executing these orders, become the 

purchaser for his own account with respect to selling orders and the seller for 

his own account with respect to buying orders. 

4. The contracts for future delivery of potatoes, eggs, and butter, referred 

to in paragraph 3, could be used for hedging transactions in these commodities 

in interstate commerce. 

CONCLUSIONS

Based upon the foregoing facts, it is concluded that the respondent did 

wilfully and knowingly and without the prior consent of his customers become the 

buyer in respect to selling orders of such customers and the seller in respect 

to the buying orders of such customers relative 

 

 

to contracts for the future delivery of commodities made on and subject to the 

rules of a contract market, all in violation of section 4b (D) of the Commodity 

Exchange Act. These violations by the respondent in and of themselves would 

warrant the denial of trading privileges on contract markets and suspension of 

his registration as a floor broker under the Commodity Exchange Act. However, 

in view of the lack of evidence of a fraudulent intent and mitigating 

circumstances set forth in the statement of April 25, 1942, including the manner 

of conducting trading on the exchange and the general practice existing prior to 

January 1942, it is concluded that the respondent's registration as a floor 

broker under the provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act should be suspended 

for a period of thirty days. 

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that the registration of Henry C. Gatlin as a floor broker be, 

and the same hereby is, suspended for a period of thirty days. 

IT Is FURTHER ORDERED that a copy hereof be sent by registered mail to the 

respondent and to each contract market and that this order shall become 

effective on the 10th day of July 1942. 

Done at Washington, D. C., this 25th day of June 1942. Witness my hand and 

the seal of the Department of Agriculture. 

[SEAL] 

(S) THOMAS J. FLAVIN 

Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture

Acting pursuant to authority delegated by the Secretary of Agriculture under 

the Act of April 4, 1940 (54 Stat. 81; 7 F. R. 2656). 

 

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