Lawyers' Feelings

Lawyers, the most articulate group in the U. S. Business community, have long been leading critics (partly pro, but mostly con) of the New Deal. Last week about 5,000 of the country's 175,000 lawyers attended the annual convention of the American Bar Association in Cleveland. At the opening session, the A. B. A.'s outgoing president. Arthur T. Vanderbilt of Newark, dwelt on "the outstanding legal development of the 20th Century" -- the Federal Government's quasi-judicial administrative agencies, such as the Securities & Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Board.

"There are those," said President Vanderbilt, "who still dream of their abolition. Such dreams are in vain . . . the administrative tribunals are here and here to stay, because they serve, or can be made to serve, useful purposes. So 'is the automobile here to stay. But the law requires that the automobile be operated by a competent and experienced driver. It is equipped with brakes as well as with a motor."

Before adjourning, the A. B. A. received from its committee on administrative law a searching critique of administrative agencies, summarizing what lawyers think about alphabetical administration as of 1938. This report said that administrative justice now suffers from the following tendencies: P: To decide without a hearing, or without hearing one of the parties. P: To decide on the basis of matters or on evidence not before the tribunal. P: To make decisions on the basis of preformed opinions and prejudices. P: To act rather than decide. P: To disregard jurisdictional limits. P: To do what will get by. P: To rule arbitrarily--or at the other extreme, to fall into a perfunctory routine. P: To exercise of jurisdiction by deputies. P: To mix up the advocate's function, the judge's function and the enforcement function.

Elected new president of the A. B. A. was dapper Frank J. ("Million-Dollar") Hogan of Washington, "lawyer's lawyer," whose defense clients in suits brought by the Government have included the late Oilman Edward L. ("Teapot Dome") Doheny and Andrew William Mellon.. President Hogan's first act was to ask for a committee to defend citizens, "poor or rich," from invasion of liberties guaranteed them by the Bill of Rights (first ten Constitutional Amendments).

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