Imperial Valley press., 1942-06-25
CAPITAL TALKS

refer
Edison
If the speed and the number Of
wartime orders. regulations, sche-
dulles. amendments. interpretations
and explanations rolling from the
duplicating machines Of Washing
ton has seemed to you a bit over
whelming. the answer is yes, 1t is
For without anyone'S being parti-
cularly aware of it, a new law
making machine which is the equal
OF Congress has been set up ybby
the War Production Board and 1t
is turning out-well, M not
laws in the strictly + law
school sense of the ord
erS which are the NIentS OF
laws, and if you they're not
laws. Mister. just citing funny
with a few OF -no see now
fast they can I n jail 1ine
you by the Gel rand, take
away your hoaI Kplles ana
in general Put yo. Orarlly put
completely out of b. TIL you
have made amends "a. promised
TO be good.
The average twO-year term
of Congress, during the last
couple Of dec ldes, has ground
out from 500 to lG0J laws per
blennium. This is considered as
frightful enough accomplish
ment by the average citizen,
though it makes business good
for the lawyer fraternity and
frightens many otherwise nor
mil parents into sending their
progeny tOlaw schools instead
of exposing them to useful
trades like Dricklaying Or truck
driving.
The nine young dentists of the
Supreme Court kick a few OF these
congressional laws in the face from
time to time, thereby removing
their teeth, but by and large the
laws that Congress passes are good
legal. quid pro quo, sine qua non,
ger Sc, duces, tecum, ipSo facto laws.
Once EHSsfd. they upally stay
passed.
NO SLOW MOTION
But there's nothing slow motion
about the wa those orders go roll
ing along at WPB When an
order is about to get born at the
war agencies, the chief of the in
dustry branch usually calls in his
priorities expert, and they figure
out what they have to do. They
call in representatives of the in
dustry affected, and discuss it with
| them No one is ever 100 per cent
satisfied, but pretty soon formula
is worked out which causes the
least Inconvenience.
Then the WPB lawyers draft the
order in good whereas style. When
drafted, the order goes to a Clear
ance Committee Of Army, Navy and
WPB brass hats which sits four
or five hours a day and okayS or
rejects. II okay, the order is pub
lished, and that's all there is TO it.
People meaning those inanim-,e
things called corporations - who
may get hurt by these orders can
appeal back to WPB and maybe
! get relief But there is no place
where a people or a corporation
c1n go and sa". Hey, you can't
do that to mel"
The authority TO issue these
orders is all based OH a law or
an executive order which is
based on law. giving the
WPB or any of It's agencies the
right to hand down these de-
crees.
In the two years S'nco June .
| 1910, that WPB and its CPM, SPAB
and NDAC predecessors have been
! functioning, there have been is
sued between 100 and 1900 OF these
directiveS, rules, orders. amend
mentS. interpretations, definitions,
repeals and explanations. No one
knows exactly how many there
have been. The serial numbers
don't mean anything, for a lot Of
orders that get written are never
approved The eXplana tions don't
change the original orders they ex-
plain. though the interpretations
and the amendments dc.
The number of these orders now
in effect is well over 500 This
number may be tapering eff now
| fer most of the base work is done
and from here on it will be largely
a matter CT amendments
LCTS-AND ALL LEGAL
ft the top of the heap are four
! WPB directiyes TO other agencies,
| though some of these directives
have many parts. The first direc-
tive, telling OPA to set up ration
ing, has supplements from A to II.
Next in importance are the IL
general rules on prioritieS, setting
up the system.
M" orders, creating industry
wide controls over materials,
number l43.