The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-23


self up as enforcement agent,
judge and jury.
A $4,000 settlement may have
seemed a bonanza to some of the
OPA attorneys handling the sec
ond-hand rail case. But it Is
stated that the government could
have sued for triple that amount.
If the offender was guilty of
wilful violation, why would the
OPA let the guilty off with a
handsome discount? Certainly.
the voluntary contribution" of
$4,000 isn't convincing evidence
to all others interested that the
Justice merited in this case was
fully served.
Under bureaucratic government,
it is easy for justice to become
a commodity that can be dis
pensed under the counter with
no details given for public con-
sumption except the amount of
the transaction rung up on the
United States Treasury cash reg
lister, as was the case in the fore
going incident. The withholding
of any details of any gross VIOLA
ton, moreover, is not reflective of
straightforward democratic pro-
cedure.
The o. P. A., although having
a questionable birthright constitu-
tionally, is nevertheless a govern
ment agency and as such is re-
sponsible to the people. AS pub
lie organiza ton, it is only right
and fair that the public shall have
access to all o. P. A. activities
where such activities in any sense
serve to disparage well intention
ed honest and laW-abiding per-
sons or group interests. AS a gov
eminent agency that has seized
the questionable right to dispense
justice, on its own terms, the o.
P. A. should be held to the same
rules and safeguards as apply to
all courts of justice. No less an
authority on government than
George Washington declared that
the very idea, of the power and
the right of the people to establish
government presupposes the right
of the Individual to inquire into
the activities and be able to ade-
quately determine the workings of
government. That applies to the
o. P. A. today, and to all other
branches Of our government.
All branches of our government
with legislative sanction have their
limitations clearly set forth. The
o. P. A. acts, however, according
to the expediency of the issue at
hand, at the same time trampling
on the constitutional rights of
those it seeks to regulate. In the
foregoing case of the secondhand
rail dealer, the o. P. A. attorney
scarcely acted within his peroga-
tives when he promised not to give
the offenders name to the news
papers. No is there any precedent
for the method of settling viola
tons through the medium of "vol-
untary contributions" We are not,
as a democratic people, interest
ed in ringing up sales of under
the-counter" justice: We want
facts, not evasions, on the coun-
ter where all interested can see
them.
These are extraordinary times,
calling for the exercise of extra
ordinary powers by government.
Yet under the eXigency of war
there still must be no looseness
in the dispensing of justice on the
part of any of our war-born agen-
cies or bureaus, for legal and NOR
al tenets must be kept deeply root
ed as part of our fundamental
democratic existence if we are to
come into full flower as a strong
nation. Slipshod dispensing of JUS
tice, where an offender gets by
through the power of his financial
willingness to make "contribu-
ton. must be stamped out.
Any procedure that breeds Sus-
picion is unhealthy. Was the $40,-
900 settlement for a criminal Of
Tense; or was it civil action in
the sense that the government
sought to recover damages, an
action it would have the right to
settle out of court? These ques-
lions do not apply merely to the
case herein discussed; they bring
up a bigger issue of whether the
overhauling promised the O.P.A.
should not include specific sane
ton, outlining the limitations OF
that bureau. We are not, OF
course, remote suggesting that
price regulation. be dumped over
board; we shudder to think of the
consequences. But we do believe
it is high time that some of the
tangled techniques employed
by our war-bureaus be analysed
and junked wherever they smack
of under the-counter" tactics.
1t may be a far-fetched analogy
to bring into the same light as an
under the-counter" settlement OF
a second hand rail price violation
the historic words of George
Washington In his Farewell Ad-
dress. But It seems that man Ii