Evening star., 1938-03-22
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN,

k1dNulS COIlSLlLuLSQ an IN
quisitor in the case Of Chairman Arthur
e. Morgan of the T. v. A. Board versus
Harcourt Morgan and David Lilienthal,
members Of the board, President Roose-
welt is apparently taking upon himself
the Office of judge and executioner. Be-
cause Chairman Morgan has declined to
answer his questions, or to retract his
charges, the President has threatened
to remove DR.. Morgan from office, If he
will not resign.
Irrespective Of the merits or dement's
Of the charges made by DR.. Morgan
against his two colleagues in the gov
erning board of the T. v. A., the Presi-
dents course has been unusual. In the
face Of many demands that a congress
sional investigation Of the charges made
by Chairman Morgan be held, the Presi-
dent took over the matter himself and
called the three members of the board
to the White House. Chairman Morgan
has stood out against the President for
congressional inquiry. He has re-
fused to answer questions put by the
President. and for that he is to be re-
moved from Office.
y
The President seems to have involved
reverberations. He might have saved
himself trouble by allowing a congress
sional inquiry of the whole mess. On
the other hand, he was in the position
to give Chairman Morgan a black eye
through his own findings in the White
House inquiry, before ever a congress
sional committee could get started-had
DR.. Morgan been willing to answer ques-
tions.: The President has virtually
charged DR.. Morgan with contempt" of
the White House, and is seeking to pun
ish him therefor.
What Congress will feel about the
matter and the Presidents attempt to
remove Morgan from Office is yet to be
developed. Those who like to call the
President dictator" will point to his
course with Morgan to substantiate
their charge.
Whether the President has the legal
authority to remove Morgan is still an
other question. The act setting up the
T. V. A. and its board Of trustees pro-
vides for the appointment of the board
members by the President by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate.
The act also contains the following Ian
guage: ANY member of said board may
be removed from Office at any time by
concurrent resolution of the Senate and
the House of Representatives"
supporters Of the President maintain
that. Notwithstanding this provision of
the T. V. A., the President has authority
to remove members Of the board. They
insist that his general authority to re-
move executive officials from office has
been sustained by the Supreme Court
when Chief Justice Taft was in office.
Nor does the later opinion of the Supreme
Court, holding that President Roosevelt
had no authority to remove the late
William E. Humphrey from the Federal
Trade Commission. alter the situation.
these supporters of the President add.
However. that is not the view of Sena-
tor Norris of Nebraska. given recently,
who held that the power of removal of
T. V. A. members was lodged in Con-
gress and not in the Chief Executive.
Norris is regarded as the legislative
father of the T. v. A.
II the President finally decides that
he will not undertake himself to remove
Morgan from Office, he may call upon
Congress to do the work for him. It is
obvious that under the law Chairman
Morgan can be removed by a concurrent
resolution of both Houses at any time.
Action by Congress would be preceded,
presumably. by congressional inquiry
into the charges made by Morgan and
against him.
The President several years ago de-
cided that the mind Of Commissioner
Humphrey of the Federal Trade Com
mission did not run along with his, and
for that reason he asked for his resigna-
ton. Humphrey declined to resign and
the President then removed him from
office. Humphrey executors brought suit
in the Court of Claims for the salary due
him for the balance of his term. The case
went to the Supreme Court, and some
time after Humphrey had died that
court handed down unanimous opinion
that the President had exceeded his au-
thority in removing Humphrey. This
did not do Mr.. Humphrey himself any
good, since he was dead and could not
be reinstated as commissioner.
The Federal Trade Commission, an
independent and quasi judicial agency
set up when Woodrow Wilson was Presi-
dent, was intended to be far more in
dependent Of executive influence than
the ordinary executive departments of
the Government. The members of the
commission, under the terms of the act,
are appointed by the President. by and
with the advice and consent of the Sen
ate-just as are the members of the
T. v. A. Board. The Federal Trade Com
mission Act, however, contains the fol-
lowing language which is not found in
the T. v. A. Act: ANY commissioner may
be removed by the President for the in
efficiency. neglect of duty or malfeasance
in Office"
President Roosevelt did not charge
Commissioner Humphrey with in
efficiency, neglect Of duty or malfeasance
in Office. In fact, the President had
earlier written Mr.. Humphrey a letter
complimenting him on his work. But
Humphrey was a conservative Repub-
lican, and the President decided that he
wanted New Dealer on the commission.
So he ousted Humphrey. The Supreme
Court held that since the law specified
the causes for which commissioner
could be removed from Office by the
President and the President had given
been illegally removed.
If the Supreme Court, in constituting
the T. v. A. Act should hold that, since
the law specified the manner in which a
member q the board may be removed a
board member cannot be removed in any
other way, the President would again
be out on limb. Indeed, there is good
reason to believe that the Supreme Court
would take just that view, according to
members Of Congress who have consid-