Evening star., 1941-01-25
Report Urges Vast
Changes in Procedure
OF Federal Agencies
Roosevelt Group Would
Separate Judicial and
Prosecutive Functions
By the Associated Press.

day in a report of special commit
tee appointed two years ago at tn,
direction of President Roosevelt.
The committee, however, opposed
extension to the courts of greater
power to review the decisions O
these agencies. Such extension wa
proposed in the Walter-Logan bill
passed by Congress but vetoed by
the President a few weeks ago.
The National Labor Relation.
Board, the Power Commission
Trade Commission and 80 othe
agencies were studied by the com.
rnittee, headed by Dean Acheson
whom the President recently nomi-
pated to be Assistant Secretary Of
State.
- Four Recommends tiOns.
These overall recommendations
were made:
i. Creation of an Office of Federal
Administrative Procedure to review
the procedures and practices of ad-
ministrative agencies. This would
be composed of director appointed
by the President, an associate justice
of the Court of Appeals for the Dis
trict of Columbia and the director
of the administrative Office for the
United States courts.
2. Separation of judicial and
prosecutive functions by creating a
new corps of officers to be known
as hearing commissioners" They
would function much as trial judges,
with appeal from their decisions be-
ing to the agency. They would op-
crate as a separate unit entirely
divorced from any investigative or
prosecutive activities"
3. Some Standardization of the
procedure for issuance of rules and
regulations. giving persons affected
by them greater opportunity to par
ticipate in drafting the rules. In
general, new rules would not be ef-
fective until As days after publica-
tion.
4. Simplification of the admins
trative procedure ''by extending the
use of conferences and other in
formal methods to settle contro-
versies." The committee condemned
''protracted and expensive hear
ings."
Four File Additional Views.
-Four members filed Traditional
views and recommendations" on the
ground that the majority report did
not go far enough.
Three of these-Carl Mcfarland,
former Assistant Attorney General
E. Blythe Stason, dean of the Uni
versity of Michigan Law School, and
Arthur T. Vanderbilt Of New Jer-
sey, former president of the Amer
lean Bar Association-joined in one
statement.
They said there should be a more
complete separation of judicial and
prosecutive functions than proposed
by the majority, urged some extern
sion of judicial review of agency
decisions, with congressional classi-
flcation of types of cases, and de-
clared there was a need for a legis-
lative statement of standards of fair
procedure.
Still another member, Chief JUS
tice D. Lawrence Groner of the
Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia, said the corrective legis-
lation proposed by the two groups
was not entirely adequate" He
concluded, however, that the state
ment of the three members more
clearly points the way to improve
ment' and joined in their recon-
mendations.
Suggests Independent Board.
Justice Groner declared that
wholly independent board, on the
order of the Board of Tax Appeals,
with unrestricted power to review
the adjudications of all agencies,
would most likely insure impartiality
and inspire public confidence"
Objections to such plan, he said.
were that it would involve creation
of "a large quasi-judicial body or
bodies, and the attendant expense" 4"
In discussing individual agencies
and current practices, the full COM
oCSOUCu HULL dUUCllGlOl1 W
press releases. 1t charged that the
Federal Alcohol Administration in
some instances appeared to have
"relied upon threatened adverse pub
licity as an eXtra-legal sanction to
secure observance of its commands,
even when the validity of its die
tates was not free from doubt"
oh Of 70
licize proceedings must be unquali-
fledly condemned" it added.
The committee expressed the view,
too. that in most instances the Fed
eral communications Commission
and the Federal Trade Commission
should withhold announcements of
complaints until the persons COM
planned against had had an oppor-
tunity to study the charge and to file
q reply, so that both allegation and
reply could be publicized simul-
taneously.
The committee suggested amend
ment of the Walsh-Healy Act to
provide that no employe could be
discharged or Disseminated against
because he had filed a charge
against his employer or testified
under the statute.
Concerning the Federal Reserve
System, the controller of the cur
rency, and the Federal Deposit In
surance Corp, the committee recon-
mended greater consultation with
outside persons during the formu-
lation of rules. AS for charges which
might be brought by those agencies,
1t recommended that the identity of
all informants be placed in the
files. 1t proposed also that appli-
cants to the Federal Reserve Board
be precisely and specifically in
formed of the adverse evidence"
against them and be given a rea-
sonable time for rebutting evidence
and arguments before any adverse
action was taken.
The study was undertaken in re-
sponse to growing criticism of the
power assumed by the administra-
tive agencies.
Five-MiIe Sunday Trim