Evening star., 1940-05-06

printed IN the
Charles 6. Ross. Congr essional
Record for May /, beginning at page
8242.
The devastating findings Of Dean
Lands with respect to the Logan
Walter bill-glibly described by its
proponents as needed to protect the
citizen against usurpation Of power
by the executive agencies of the
Governmental cannot be dismissed
as the views of a mere theorist in
the law. Before he went back to
teaching he was the chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commis-
sion. There will be very little dis
sent from the opinion expressed by
Representative Rayburn in the
House debate on the bill that Mr..
Lands was great chairman"
Certainly he brought to the work
of the S. E. C. -mindedness
that won for the commission under
his regime the applause Of both lib
erals and conservatives. His qualifl-
cations as student of the law. and
especially OF administrative law, are
equally impressive.
Dean Lands tears the Logan
Walter bill to shreds More sccu-
rately, he cuts 1t to pieces with a
surgeons knife. He traces the his
tory of the bill frcIn A to 2, shows
the absurd fallacy In the titular de-
scription OF it as measure ito pro-
vide for the more expeditions settle
ment of disputes with the United
States" exposes numerous Of the
misrepresentation that were used
to get votes for it in the House,
reaches the conclusion that "to ap-
ply tine procrustean formula sug-
gested by the associations (the
American Bar Association'S pend
ing proposals is to cut OF here
foot and there q head, leaving
broken and bleeding the processes
of administrative law"
Compares Bill to N. 1. r. A.
With damning effect he conparr
the Logan-Walter bill to another i'll
considered piece of legislation-thc
National Industrial Recovery Ac'.
This was another bill put togethe-
with war cries and shouts" anothe"
bill "superimposed upon an existing
administration scheme with only
| f1eetlng concern given to the problem
of it's joints" This bill also, like
the Logan-Walter proposal was shot
through with exceptions dictated
by the happy thought of the mo-
ment" When the Supreme Court
killed the n. l. r. A.. it "expunged
from the statute book an act that
was bound to fail of its high pur-
pose because behind it was none Of
that understanding essential to the
effectiveness of reform"
Dean Lands cites various Of the
misstatements made on the floor Of
the House in support of the Logan
Walter measure. There was. for as
| tonishing example. the linking OF
Justice Frankturter' name with the
proposed legislation in such way
as clearly to imply that he favored
| it. This was done on two occasions
in the House debate by Representa-
tive Walter, Democrat. of Pennsyl-
vania, one of the nominal authors
of the bill. Justice Frankfurter was
described zone of the distinguished
gentlemen who contributed in the
drafting of the original recommend
alton" of the American Bar Associa-
ton respecting administrative law.
The facts are entirely different.
Justice Frankfurter, then of the
Harvard law faculty, was a member
of the original committee named by
the A. B. A. in May, 1888, to report
on the subject of administrative
law, but owing to absence in Europe
he took little part in the work OF
the committee, and did not examine
or sign its report.
The fact is, moreover, that the
Logan-W Walter bill, in anything like
its present form, did not see the
light of day until 1887, though the
statement was made in the House
that "this bill was proposed in 1882,
before there was anything known as
the New Deal" No one who has
read the opinions of Justice Frank
furter touching administrative law
can imagine for a minute that he
favors or ever did favor the Logan
Walter bill or anything comparable
to it
Opposed by Caldwell.
Again, the House was given to
understand by Mr.. Walter, whose
irresponsibility of statement In this
debate is almost beyond belief" that
among those supporting the bill was
Louis G. Caldwell, practicing law
yer of Washington, D. c., and Chi
cago and the former chairman OF
the A. B. AS Special Committee on
Administrative Law.
Mr.. Caldwell, in fact, is on record
against the bill with a scathing
memorandum pointing to its "obvi-
Gus defects" and declaring that bar
associations have Endorsed 1t appar-
emily on the basis Of the "astound-
ing claims" made for it, rather than
its actual contents. with minor
exceptions" says Mr.. Caldwell, 'it
is difficult to know just what agen-
cies and. what quasi-judicial func-
tions are reached by the bill that
are not already equipped with at
least equal and usually superior ma
chinery." Refuting the claim that
the bill carries forward the early
work Of the A. B. A. on administra-
tive law, he says that In fact It rep
resents a reversal of the position
taken by the association In 1894
and 1896.
Mr.. Caldwell's analysis appears In
the Congressional Record for April
18. It, too, should be required home
work for all bar and other associa-
tions before they do any more re-
solving on the Logan-Walter bill.
Puffi's Doll