Evening star., 1940-05-19
Administrative Agencies Rule
On More Cases Than Judiciary
Creation of l. c. c.. in 1887 to
Total of 50 Boards
By WiIlian Pinkerfon,
Associated Press stan Writer.

by Prof. (now Justice) Felix Frankfurter
in 1927, that:
Nothing less is our task than FASH
ioning instruments and processes at once
adequate for social needs and the pro-
lection of individual freedom"
What are these agencies and how do
they work?
Daily in Washington dozen hearings
may be going on at once. They get lit
tie notice in the busy Capital. But each
hearing involves interests as vital to
groups of citizens as any case in court
In small, bright room of the new
Post ONCE Department Building,
chubby, genial lawyer is hearing in
testers testimony in support of charges
that suspected confidence man" has
used the mails to defraud Americans
He may lose the right to receive mail.
In a high-ceilinged hearing room of
the I. G. Gas impressive as any court
room in its oak paneling and the large
mural map of the United States shining
over its high bench-a railroad is plead
ing for permission to discontinue little
used section of its line; while across the
hall bus company is asking the right
to open new service.
In dingy room atop the brown-brick
building where the S. E. C. works, an
officer listens silently to the complicated
argument of Wall street lawyers con-
corning deal in corporation stocks.
Out in the country other hearings are
going on.
In Kansas City, an agent of the Secre-
tary of Agriculture may be taking testi-
mony on the service rates charged cat
tlemen at stockyard.
In a small town in South Carolina, a
man from the N. L. r. B. may be listen
ing to the bitter pros and cons of
a labor dispute.
In the Los Angeles Federal Building.
member of the Board of Tax Appeals
may be hearing the often humorous, al
waysrevealing argument over what ex-
penses of movie star are Legitimate
business expenses"-and therefore ex-
empt from taxation.
Examiners in Charge.
The men who listen from high benches
in Washington or from improvised ros-
trums in small-town halls are the key
to "the administrative process" Usually,
they are called trial examiners or field
examiners.
They conduct the hearing-never as
formal as a courtroom trial "a tobacco
loving examiner may allow smoking dur
ing the session for instance). And they
report to the board or bureau or COM
mission or agency on the argument pre-
sented.
II the examiner is veteran, long
skilled in the technical aspects of some
phase of his bosses job, his report may
carry decisive weight in their final de-
! cision. 1t is said that the I. c. c. gives
| great weight to the reports of some OF
its examiners, because they know certain
| highly technical aspects of the trans
portation problem better than q COM
missioner could. The commissioner must
| deal with all phases; the examiner may
specialize in any one.
! But the training and experience of
the examiners vary greatly among the
agencies. And examiners of some of
the newer agencies-working in fields
almost untouched by Government until
recent years-have been criticized by
Congressman and others as inept, preju-
diced or careless.
Top Men Make Decisions.
Generally, the agencies involved have
defended their men against such criti-
| cisms. although in specific instances an
examiner has been taken off a case or
dismissed for unfitness.
When the arguments of both sides are
in, and the economic aspects of the case
have been gone over, the final decision
rests with the top men of the agency
Meeting around a long conference
table, they may spend days on end max
ing important rulings--whether to order
a corporation to cease and desist' from
some practice, whether to issue Ger
tif1cate of public convenience and neces-
sity" for an airline route, whether to
recommend that the President raise or
lower tariff.
Such is the picture in general. But
the forms and procedures vary greatly
from agency to agency. Some are purely
subcourts, deciding such cases as Judge
might decide. Some decide issues and
also exercise police power" over indus
try. Most Of them lay down rules and
regulations for the future conduct of
persons or corporations under the broad
laws Of Congress.
Ordinarily, the agencies decisions are
orders concerning what should be done
in the future; whereas the courts rule
principally on the rightness or wrong
ness Of what has been done in the past