Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-08-13

man 10 a1CeT LnG course OI udLuIS
and by the same token these con-
ditions have proved the inability OF
government to change human ma
ture. I do not know whether 9TH
ers will agree with my conclusion
or not but I am of the opinion that
the American farmers are paying
dearly for the crop control checks
they received in the past two years.
Even with a crop shortened by
drouth, if there had been the nor
NAL acreage of wheat, American
farmers would have reaped the re-
ward to which they are so justly
entitled.
A year or two ago, committee
of the American Bar association
made report def
Bar OHers initely critical of
New Plan the New Deal adj
ministration o
having created so many agencies
to which had been given functions
almost like the courts. That re-
port pointed out how such units as
the now dead MIRA and the equally
dead AAA could issue rules and
regulations that were enforceable as
law. They called attention to the
further fact that countless of these
rules and regulations carried strict
and severe penalties, even to the
extent of a jail term for an indi-
vidual violator.
Lately, another committee of the
American Bar association has pub
lished another report, again calling
attention to the un-American princi-
Piles established in such bureau
cratic control. It offers a construc-
tive proposal for the elimination
of bureaucratic management of in
dividual affairs from Washington.
It proposes the establishment of an
administration court which would
have power to enforce these rules
and regulations but would be
equipped with the judicial right Of
determination so that the thousands
upon thousands of regulations with
their various penalties would not
be enforced upon an individual ac-
cused of their violation without CIV
ing that alleged violator the right
of hearing. The committee pro-
posal, in other words, would put an
end to determination of violations
by one bureaucrat.
Ultimately, the proposed court
| would take over the judicial work
of all of the administrative agen-
cies in Washington now numbering
something like IS. The initial OPP
Grafton of the court would be limit
ed until it could bring something
like uniformity out of the chaos
now existing for it is well known
that in many cases two govern
mental agencies will have rules on
the same point and those rules will
not be the same. In some aggra-
waited situations, it has been found
that one agency will prescribe a
penalty against an individual BUSH
ness for doing one thing while an
other agency will have no penalty
for the same act. Another instance
is known where two agencies have
virtually the same regulations but
the penalties in the two rules are
different.
! suppose the condition can be
explained by the fact that dozens
| of new bureaus
Too Many have been set up
Bureaus under the scores
| of New Deal laws
and that in the haste to get them
into operation, no coordination was
had between the various groups,
but it is my belief that private
citizens cannot be blamed for this
condition. Since they cannot be
blamed for failure of government
to function properly, they ought not
be compelled to answer for the silly
differences in law which bureau
Gratis have written under authority
of congress to draft necessary reg
ulations.
After all, congress is really to
blame for this condition. 1t rushed
through laws which President
Roosevelt demanded and it did not
take time to debate the provisions
: nor did it examine the sections to
know fully what results would flow
from them. In many cases, too
many, statements Of general legis-
lative policy were not clear and
congress abdicated its duties to the
extent that it wrote into those laws
provisions saying that the agency
which was to enforce the particu-
lar law was given authority to
write whatever rules and regula-
tons were found to be necessary.
Some authority of this kind always
has been given in order to make
the national laws flexible but they
never have been given to such an
extent as they have in the last
three years.
insufficient time has elapsed
since the American Bar association
committee came forth with its adj
ministrative court proposal for an
analysis to be made of its poten-
tialities. 1t may, and probably does,
have weaknesses. 1t does, how
ever, have a strong point In
the general idea that a judicial
body should determine whether an
individual citizen has violated a