Evening star., 1947-08-17

been acted upon when the Senate's
Finance Subcommittee heard Mr.
Mason's testimony has not been ex-
planned, but Commissioner William
A. Ayres, recently confirmed tc
serve seven more years, has de.
clared in . formal statement thai
If Mr.. Mason does not cali up the
motion for disposition, he will do sc
as soon as practicable after Mr.
Mason returns from his vacation.
Thus has grown up two opposing
camps within the FTC. One grour
has declared it must be the polio,
Of the commission to stop playing
cops and robbers with business
The trade papers are processing te
see an alignment of Commissioner.
Ayres, Ewin L. Davis and Robert E
Freer as rejecting a majority view
opposed to the ideas of Commis.
sioner Mason. Chairman Garlanc
s. Ferguson is the nth member o1
the board. This is purely conjec.
ture, although in his statement Mr.
Ayres spoke as for "the majority oi
the commission"
A Surprise Move
Mr.. Mason has been contendine
for long time in articles and ad.
dresses, as well as before the Senate
hearing, for q revision Of policy
whereby greater use would be made
of cooperative trade conferences
and of stipulations, thus de-empha-
sizing what he calls hit or miss
prosecutions. Many persons were
surprised that Mr.. Mason took his
actual motion before the Senate
since he represented only himself
as he expressed it, and since policy
matters are usually decided by the
FTC without benefit of public kibitz-
ing. His testimony In the hearings
no doubt contributed largely toward
the run on the printed copies ot
the hearings even though they did
concern the other independent
Offices as well as the FTC.
In the end, Mr.. Mason's private
recommendations for earmarkins
large funds to implement the motion
were not granted by the committee
although 1t did express itself in sym.
pathy with the general aims.
As concerns that expression ot
general agreement, Mr.. Ayres de.
clared himself not opposed to co.
operative trade practice conference.
and proper use OF stipulations. HI.
statement follows:
There apparently has been con.
siderable misunderstanding con.
corning the position of the majority
Of the commission with respect te
trade practice conferences and stipu.
lations. Certainly there has been
misunderstanding concerning my
position. Those procedures are not
new In our operations. They have
long been used and their value in
obtaining . cooperative and wide
spread observance Of the laws we
administer has been fully estab-
lished. have vigorously supported
the use Of those procedures, and
shall continue to do so.
Mr.. Ayres' Statement
Experience has proved, however,
that the effectiveness of those pro-
cedures has definite limitations. Be-
cause their force lies primarily in
the moral conscience Of those who
enter into agreements with the COM
mission, they cannot be more ef-
fective than the good faith Of the
parties involved. Obviously they are
not adaptable to all situations and
their use should never be permitted
as a means of evading or delaying
the effectiveness Of the laws We ad-
minister. There are situations In
which the legality of their use in
wolves serious questions. They can
not fully replace formal adversary
proceedings, and an effort to dis.
credit or weaken our statutory ad-
versary processes constitutes q
frontal attack upon the laws in.
trusted to our Jurisdiction.
"A motion has been pending be-
fore the commission for several
months proposing certain changes
in our statement of policy on CO.
operative procedures. It has not
yet been voted on. I have been
ready TO vote on it since 1t was Of
fered, however, and I am confident
that 1t could have been brought to
q vote at any time. ! consider that
the subject Is Of great Importance,
and that the commissions position
should be clarified as soon as pos
sible. If the sponsor Of the pend
ing motion does not bring 1t to q
vote promptly upon his return from
vacation I shall ask for q full con-
sideration of the matter, and shall
make specific proposals thereon
which I have been ready to offer
for some time. Until I have made
my proposals to the Commission,
however, I do not feel free further
to disclose their details except to say
that they involve certain important
differences from the proposals which
have been made"
Mr.. Mason's Motion
Mr.. Mason's motion reads, in part
II move that the commission
adopt the following Is . public
statement Of policy with reference
to trade practice conference agree.
ments and stipulations:
Upon the PRONUNCIATION Of trade
practice conference rules for an in
dustry, an examination will be made
of all charges of law violations by
memherS of that ind,atry .