Evening star., 1938-05-15
Wallace Is Concerned Mainly
Over Court 'Rebuke' in Ruling
Distress Laid to Secretary's Failure to Make New
Procedure Ordered in 1896 Retroactive
to Apply to Kansas City Case.

New Deal took office on March 4, 1898.
That was the time. the Supreme Court
now says, when proposed report or tenta-
tive findings should have been served on
the stockyards men.
Wallace Reviews Case.
But, following the established procedure,
Assistant Secretary Tugwell, 20 days after
taking Office, heard the argument, which
was necessarily general because the mar
keting agencies did not know what rates
the department experts were recommend
ing. Secretary Wallace reviewed the case
personally and on June H. 1888, issued
180 detailed findings and an order fixing
maximum charges. A request for re-
hearing was denied by Mr. Wallace July 6.
The case then went to court, the stock
yards handlers complaining that they had
not received fair hearing because Secre-
tary Wallace, who signed the order, had
taken no part in the proceedings When
the case reached the Supreme Court in
May, 1885. Chief Justice Hughes sent it
back with instructions to the lower court
to investigate this point, but took occasion
to say that, while 1t would have been good
practice to have the examiner prepare a
report and submit it to the parties and
to permit exceptions and arguments ad-
dressed to the points thus presented, the
court cannot say that this particular type
of procedure was essention" The lower
court questioned the Secretary and found
he had given much study to the case and
discussed 1t with subordinates who were
familiar with it. The case went to the
Supreme Court again and the Chief Justice
decided that Mr.. Wallace had given the
order sufficient study. but the court in
validated the order because there had beer
no examiners report or similar procedure
1t was after the 1896 decision that sec-
retary Wallace changed the procedure
under the Stockyards Act. and now he
complains bitterly that the Chief Justice
has shifted his position as to the absolute
requirements Of q full hearing, and that
''the Supreme Court. in order to flash
warning to quasi-judicial agencies" has
forced farmers suing the Kansas City
stockyards to continue to pay unreasonably
high charges
Rushes to Own Defense.
Secretary Wallace's loneliness ON the
subject is shown by the way he again
rushed to his own defense with q public
statement on May 13. Immediately after
Chief Justice Hughes, in an address to
the American Law Institute. made some
remarks about administrative agencies
| which some people construed as further
comment on his Kansas City stockyards'
| decision. Mr.. Hughes spoke Of the need
| for judicial attitude on the part OF ad-
| ministrative bodies, for "deliberation, fair
| ness, conscientious appraisal Of evidence
determinations according to the facts and
the impartial application OF the law
and Mr.. Wallace promptly put on this shoe.
even though it might better fit certain
other New Deal agencies. The N. L. r. B.,
for instance, has bowed to the court s
dictum without squawking.
| Whether or not the Supreme Court &C.
tually switched" its position on the neces-
sity for an examiners report, 1t may be
said on behalf of the court that, In its
more recent decision, it did not specify
this as an absolute requirement. It recog-
nized various types Of hearings and pro-
ceedings, but declared that failure to ac-
cord respondents a reasonable opportunity
to know the claims presented and to con-
test them is a vital defect.
There have been no official complaints
against this ruling. Secretary Wallace has
praised it-while claiming credit for recog-
nizing the principle when his precedessors
did not. The controversy between him and
the Chief Justice is largely an attempt to
save his own face and refute the implica-
ton that the court rebuked him personally
The important thing is that the New Deal
as a whole, has taken to heart the Su-
preme Courts insistence on a full and fair
hearing in all administrative procedures.
Copyright, 1898. by North American Newspaper
Alliance, Inc)