Evening star., 1938-01-23

JUDGE FERDINAND A. GEIGER.
II he 1oas right, Mr.. Cummings
1UdS 10rong.
a civil decree, which, if agreed upon, would
be submitted to the grand jury for its
consideration along with evidence already
before it. 1t was, however. anticipated
that If satisfactory consent DEGREES could
be agreed upon which eliminated the
abuses 1t might not be necessary to go
through the prolonged ordeal Of criminal
trials"
Advises No Conferences.
1t was while these conferences vere undor
way, Mr. Cummings declared, that Judge
Geiger cs'nd in Russell Hardy, special as
slstant to the Attorney General who was
presenting the evidence to the grand jury.
and advised him there should be no ron.
ferences between the department and the
companies even though the terms of the
decree might grant essential relief to An
important American industry and avoid a
great deal of litigation" The department.
he said, deferred to Judge Geiger's wishes
and Cancelled all conferences.
But. he added, having accomplished this
much, Judge Geiger was not satisfied. He
had prevented the Government from OBJ
tanning satisfactory and far-reachine
CIVIL decree. Arbitrarily and against the
protests Of Government counsel. he re-
cessed the grand jury and summoned the
companies attorneys to advise him about
the conferences held with the department.
He then proceeded to absolve the companies
from prosecution by discharging the grand
jury although advised that the grand Jury
had voted to return indictments"
This action. the Attorney General said,
saved the companies from indictment for
past violation" of the antitrust laws and
dlscredited the efforts of the Government
to correct abuses in the industry. Then he
lodged a complaint concerning the dis
missal by Judge Geiger of some criminal
tax cases IN 1885, and concluded with this
paragraph:
This course of conduct is so obstructive
to the administration of justice that I
could not justify failure to bring it to
your knowledge
All Facts Not in Hand,
On its face, Mr., Cummings letter makes
out a serious case against Judge Geiger, but
it seems likely the Attorney General did not
have all the facts before him when he
wrote it. Certainly he had not seen the
record of the hearing before Judge Geiger
on December II, when the automobile men
gave their version Of the conferences at the
department, for the record had not been
printed when the letter was written, on
the 18th.
Factors missing from the picture as pre-
sented by the Attorney General have since
been supplied through an investigation by
c. P. Trussell of the Baltimore Sun, who
went to Milwaukee and interviewed lawyers
and laymen. and by the State Bar Associ-
alton of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee
County Bar Association, which sent to the
committee in behalf of Judge Geiger q
brief based on the testimony Of the auto
mobile representatives.
Mr.. Trussell found, among other things,
that Judge Geiger, who has served for rs
years, is held in high esteem by the resi-
dents Of his district, although there have
been some complaints from labor repre-
sentatives. The general opinion In Mil
waukee, according to his findings, is that
the whole undertaking represents an at
tempt to make the court an adjunct of the
Department of Justice
Propriety Held Key Issue.
The brief of the bar associations, sub
mitted through Benjamin Poss and William
Doll, presidents, respectively, of the State
and county groups asserted that the ques-
tion before Judge Geiger was not the guilt
or innocence Of the finance companies, but
the propriety of the conduct of the assist
ants to the Attorney General in negotiating
for consent decree covering the same
matter then being presented to the grand
jury.
'"The attitude Of the judge" the brief
said, was not to prevent relief, either civil
or criminal. His definite attitude and po-
sition was that he would not permit his
court to be made party to a deal wherein
alleged law volators would be released
from criminal responsibility upon COM
pliance with stipulated conditions; whereby
an arm of his court would be used as a
means of compelling compliance with these
conditions, and whereby the criminal proc
ess of his court would be abused"
The brief first took up the question of
the canceling of the conferences mentioned
in the Attorney Generals letter to the COM
mittee.
Judge Geiger, according to the record.
recommended that the conferences be dis
continued on November a. However, the
brief states, the department on November
40 wrote letter inviting renewal of dis