The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1952-05-01
O'Conor Tells Chamber Audience Truman
Had No Authority To Seize Steel Industry

and deposits.
"One searches in vain for any such
authority in the Constitution of the
United States and the various peril
nent Federal statutes. On the con-
trary, many definite decisions to the
contrary are right at hand.
One of the Constitutional land
mark cases was that involving the
Arlington home of General Robert
E. Lee. The United States seized
this property in the War between the
States and later proported to pur-
chase at tax sale. But the Supreme
Court of the United States had this
to say:
1T is not pretended, as the case
now stands, that the President
had any lawful authority to do
this, nor that the legislativesbody
could give him any such author
ity except upon payment of just
compensation. Not only is no such
power given, but it is absolutely
prohibited, both to the executive
and the legislative, to deprive
anyone of life, liberty or property
without due process of law, or to
take private property without
just compensation
No man in this country is so high
that he is above the law No Of
ficer of the law may set that law
at defiance, with impunity. All
the officers of the Government
from the highest to the lowest are
creatures of the law and are
bound to obey it,
I'm the light of Judicial deci-
sions, it cannot be claimed that any
official of this Government is, or
can be, placed above the terms of
the Constitution of the United States
to the extent that he may ignore
basic requirements and take private
property without due process of law.
"The action of the President is un-
precedent, first, because it is not
based on any Act of Congress, and
second, because the President did
not make any effort whatsoever,
despite the urgency of the situation
and the time allowed, to secure au-
thority from Congress for the seiz-
ure. We cannot forget that Con-
gress has been in session regularly
since the first of the year.
What makes the situation the
more serious is the fact that the
President, in Selling the steel plants,
ignored the provisions of an Act of
Congress-the Taft-Hartley Act,
which was specifically designed by
the Congress, after long and serious
debate, to deal nationally with emer-
gencieS arising out of labor dis
puteS. The President cited lack of
time as his excuse for not making
use of the provisions of the Law.
presumably referring to the provi-
5ionS of the Act which require the
of board of inquiry and
a report to the President by such
Board before action may be taken to
invoke the injunctive provisions of
the Act. 1t is obvious, however, that !
The threat of the steel workers to
strike, which was made before that
late, gave the President ample OPP
oortunity to make use of the Taft
Hartley Act, if he had been SO in
,lined.
I'm Selling the steel plants, the
President purported to be acting by
virtue of powers vested in him by
the Constitution and laws of the
United States and Commander in
Chief of the armed forces of the
United States I believe with great
conviction that in SO acting the Pres
ldent has usurped, by executive de-
cree, powers which he does not have.
'It is manifest that he does not
have any such powers under any law
of the United States, as there has not
been brought forward any specific
law upon which he, or the Depart
ment of Justice, purport to rely in
support of the arbitrary action taken
by him. On the other hand, Con-
gress has expressly denied to the
President the far-reaching power of
seizure which he has purported to
exercise in the steel dispute. Con-
gress did that first in enacting the
Taft-Hartley Act and providing as
its considered judgment, for pro-
cedure by way of board of%inquiry
and injunction process for use in
coping with national emergencies
arising out of labor disputes. Sec
ondly, in enacting the Selective
Service Avt of 1948, Congress pro-
vided in Section Is, which was con-