Evening star., 1939-02-12

| Board is attacked by the American Fed
Grafton of Labor and some businessmen
on grounds of prejudice. The Commune
cations Commission is assailed by Presi-
dent Roosevelt and the radio industry
for alleged lack of technical skill. The
coal industry is fighting to stop the in
creasing flow of power of the T. v. A.
The politics" of the w. P. A. is under
fire. The Social Security Board is buff
feted for its handling of unemployment
insurance and pensions. Secretary of
Labor Frances Perkins is involved in i'm
peachment proceedings for her failure
to deport an alien.
OF even more potential Importance
than these controversies is the fact that
Justice Frankfurter joins the court just
when its work appears to be undergoing
a major shift in emphasis.
During the early days of the New Deal,
the court held one act of Congress after
another unconstitutional Since the
President started his "liberalizing" cam
paign with his court enlargement pro-
posal, not one act has been nullihed.
Court Has Placed Restrictions.
Instead, the court has turned its atten-
ton to the administrative agencies and
has placed restrictions on them.
In one such case the court rebuked
the Secretary Of Agriculture for failure
to provide full and fair hearing" in
proceedings leading up to fixing of rates
for slaughtening cattle in the Kansas
City stockyards.
In another case the court held that
the National Labor Relations Board i'm
properly annulled labor union contract.
Unreasonable and arbitrary abuse of
discretion" had been attempted in the
taking of evidence, the court said, and
punitive jurisdiction" had been unlaw-
! fully assumed.
Nor did Congress think it was doing
anything particularly sweeping when it
set up the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion in 1887 to handle the then new
railroad problem.
But administrative law was not to re-
main a matter of railroads any more
than housing was to remain a matter
OF tenement inspection.
New Problems for Solution.
AS the civilization of the machine
age grew more complex, new problems
popped up for solution. When they
popped into Congress, they were popped
out into this or that administrative
agency.
First came regulation of trade prac-
tices Federal Trade Commission, 1910,
then shipping Omitted States Shipping
Board, 1915, and the wireless (Federal
Radio Commission, 1920, and electric
power Federal Power Commission, l93O)
and stocks and bonds (Securities and
Exchange Commission, 1884, and COM
munications Federal Communications,
1884, absorbing the Radio Commission,
and industrial-la relations (National
Labor Relations Board), and fuel (Bitu-
minous Coal Commission), then Ship
ping again Omitted States Maritime
Commission, 1886, absorbing the old
Shipping Board) and at last airplanes
(Civil Aeronautics Authority, 1889.
Like Topsy, the system "just grew"
without design. Sometimes the problem
at hand was placed in regulatory
agency sometimes in bureau of an
executive department (the Secretary of
Agriculture, for example, administers
more than 40 regulatory laws covering
variety of things from crop quotas to
food and drug standards) and sometimes
in Government corporation Examples:
National banks, the Federal Reserve,
the T. V. A., the w. P. A., the r. F.. c.,
the Bank Deposit Insurance Corp, the
Housing Administration, the Home Own
ers' Loan Corp), of which there are now
some $4,000.
Indirect Government.
The result is great pyramid of indi-
rect Government, stemming from the
President, who appoints the adminis-
traitors, to the people
Such sweeping power, administered so
far from the font of power in Congress,
is disturbing to many students of Amer
lean Government. The American Bar
Association has advocated action by Con-
gress to require every new agency to pub
lish its rules and regulations and hold
4 D.
1t also has proposed special court to
handle administrative law disputes.
President Roosevelt's Committee on Gov
ernmental Reorganization wants to di-
vide the administrative and judicial
functions of each agency to insure JUS
tice place the administrative end di-
rectly under the President, and require
annual reports to Congress so undesirable
developments may be changed by legis-
lative action.
Either of these plans would be abrupt
and dramatic. Either may be adopted,
or may not. However that may be, the
Supreme Court, in the undramatic piece
meal way it accomplishes most of its
functions, will gradually shape the future
of administrative law-and democratic
life. In its task, in Justice Frankfurters S
words, the court should have the benefit
of "the free play of healthy public criti-
! cisn."