TO AMEND THE FEDERAL REGISTER ACT

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1936

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Emanuel Celler (chairman) presiding.

The committee had under consideration H. R. 10932 and 11337, which are as follows:

[H. R. 10932, 74th Cong. 2d sess.]

A BILL To repeal the Federal Register Act

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Federal Register Act is hereby repealed.

[H. R. 11337, 74th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend the Federal Register Act

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 11 of the Federal Register Act (Public, Numbered 220, Seventy-fourth Congress), approved July 26, 1935, is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 11. (a) On or before February 1, 1937, each agency of the Government shall prepare and file with he Administrative Committee a complete codification of all documents which, in the opinion of the agency, have general applicability and legal effect and which have been issued or promulagted by such agency and are in force and effect and relied upon by the agency as authority for, or invoked or used by it in the discharge of, any of its functions or activities on the date documents are required or authorized to be published in the Federal Register. The committee shall, within ninety days thereafter, report thereon to the President, who shall authorize and direct the publication of such codification in special or supplemental editions of the Federal Register.

"(b) There is hereby established a Codification Board, which shall consist of six members: The Director of the Division of the Federal Register, ex officio; three attorneys of the Department of Justice, designated by the Attorney General; and two attorneys of the Division of the Federal Register, designated by the Archivist. The Board shall supervise and coordinate the form, style, arrangement, and indexing of the codifications of the various agencies.

"(c) The codified documents of the several agencies published in the supplemental edition of the Federal Register pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) hereof, as amended by documents subsequently filed with the Division, and published in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall be prima-facie evidence of the text of such documents and of the fact that they are in full force and effect on and after the date of publication theref.

"(d) The Administrative Committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the President, regulations for carrying out the provisions of this section."

Mr. CELLER. This is a meeting of subcommittee no. 2 of the Judiciary Committee to consider H. R. 10932 and H. R. 11337. H. R. 10932 is a bill introduced by our colleague, Mr. Cochran, from Missouri. Mr. Cochran is here and I believe wants to be heard.

1

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN J. COCHRAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM MISSOURI

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. Chairman, it is very seldom that a Member of Congress ever takes it upon himself to introduce a bill to repeal an act before that act has been placed in operation.

I want the members of the subcommittee to consider this bill from their personal experience. I have been here 25 years, and I think that the postmaster will bear me out that there is no Member of Congress, who does not solicit business, that gets any more mail than I do.

My district is entirely within the boundaries of the city of St. Louis. With the possible exception of the young men who have been admitted to the bar in St. Louis, I do not think there is a lawyer in St. Louis who does not know me personally, or knows that I am a Member of Congress. We have three congressional districts in St. Louis, but attorneys from all over the city write me with reference to various

matters.

This law was passed in the last session of Congress while I happened to be in the hospital. A Congressman has been classed, more or less, by some people and by some newspapermen, as a messenger boy, and that is a fact, in part. We are called upon to do any and all kinds of work and receive hundreds of requests, to get Government publications for the people that are interested in them.

Now, I do not receive once in a month a request for a Government regulation, and I do not receive one request in 6 months for an Executive order. Invariably, when I do receive a request for a Government regulation, it is either a Veterans' Bureau regulation or an income-tax regulation.

That convinces me that the attorneys in St. Louis and the business houses in St. Louis who are interested in Government regulations and Executive orders secure them if they need or want them. I have talked with the Superintendent of Documents of the Government Printing Office. This act has been advertised in every trade paper in the United States and in the metropolitan newspapers throughout the country. Only yesterday, the Superintendent of Documents of the Government Printing Office told me that he had received less than 50 requests for information concerning the publication of the Federal Register, and in each instance it was a request to know the price that was going to be charged for the Federal Register; no individual who had written him had asked that his name be placed upon the mailing list to secure the Federal Register, and that they would pay whatever the charges might be.

The Income Tax Section of the Bureau of Internal Revenue issues régulations from time to time, as well as decisions that bear upon the law. You have probably a dozen private firms in this country that supply lawyers and accountants throughout the United States with the regulations just as soon as they are printed, and they are in loose-leaf form and later they are placed in bound volumes. The customs division is in the same position.

I have talked to Dr. Mohler, the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. That division issues regulations from time to time in regard to the administration of the acts under his control, which affect tanners, packers and stockyards, and so forth, and all of those who

are operating under the acts that are under the control of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

He told me that they have national associations in Washington, with representatives that visit his offices practically daily; the minute a regulation is issued, they send a copy of that regulation throughout the country to those they represent.

I talked to Dr. Campbell, of the Pure Food and Drug Division, who made practically the same statement to me.

I asked them if they proposed, when the Federal Register was established, to discontinue their mailing lists and to let those who desired to secure copies of the regulations that might have legal effect from the Federal Register, and they both told me absolutely not, unless ordered to do so by action of Congress or by the Secretary of Agriculture. They said that it was essential that those who were affected by the act and by regulations secure copies immediately, and they thought that the best way to secure them was through their office and through these national organizations.

Now, as I understand it, when the "hot oil" case was pending before the Supreme Court, one of the justices asked the attorney who was arguing the case where they might secure the regulations that had been issued, I think, by the Department of the Interior. If there had been a clerk of any Congressman or Senator in the Courtroom at the time, who had nerve enough to talk to the Court, he could have told the justice immediately where they could have secured them.

There is no Executive order or no regulation that has ever been issued, that I know of, that Members of Congress cannot get immediately. Whenever a request is made, all you have to do is to get in touch with the proper officials in the proper Department.

We have a chief of publicity in the Department of Agriculture, and through that division all requests for documents clear. I spoke to the gentleman in charge of the distribution there, who has been there over 25 years, and he told me that it was very seldom that they received a request for a Government regulation.

I talked to Mr. Lewis, of the document room in the Capitol, where they supply the 434 Members of Congress with documents, and he told me that Members of Congress sent him letters when received to fill the orders for documents. He said that requests for Government regulations and Executive orders were few and far between.

The deficiency bill carried several hundred thousands of dollars for the compiling of bound volumes of the orders that have been issued in the past, Executive orders and regulations. The independent offices appropriation bill likewise carried an appropriation for the employees that are going to get out the Federal Register.

This is another new agency. We are hearing every day about cutting down Government expenditures. This agency has just been born; it is in its infancy; it is going to continue to grow. So will the appropriations and my object is to stop if it is not necessary.

I do not blame these gentlemen that are here this morning, who are connected with the Federal Archives, who have positions and who are going to be paid to get out the Federal Register. I willingly admit, if I were in their positions I no doubt would be here, myself, trying to defend this act and to hold onto my job.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN J. COCHRAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM MISSOURI

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. Chairman, it is very seldom that a Member of Congress ever takes it upon himself to introduce a bill to repeal an act before that act has been placed in operation.

I want the members of the subcommittee to consider this bill from their personal experience. I have been here 25 years, and I think that the postmaster will bear me out that there is no Member of Congress, who does not solicit business, that gets any more mail than I do.

My district is entirely within the boundaries of the city of St. Louis. With the possible exception of the young men who have been admitted to the bar in St. Louis, I do not think there is a lawyer in St. Louis who does not know me personally, or knows that I am a Member of Congress. We have three congressional districts in St. Louis, but attorneys from all over the city write me with reference to various

matters.

This law was passed in the last session of Congress while I happened to be in the hospital. A Congressman has been classed, more or less, by some people and by some newspapermen, as a messenger boy, and that is a fact, in part. We are called upon to do any and all kinds of work and receive hundreds of requests, to get Government publications for the people that are interested in them.

Now, I do not receive once in a month a request for a Government regulation, and I do not receive one request in 6 months for an Executive order. Invariably, when I do receive a request for a Government regulation, it is either a Veterans' Bureau regulation or an income-tax regulation.

That convinces me that the attorneys in St. Louis and the business houses in St. Louis who are interested in Government regulations and Executive orders secure them if they need or want them. I have talked with the Superintendent of Documents of the Government Printing Office. This act has been advertised in every trade paper in the United States and in the metropolitan newspapers throughout the country. Only yesterday, the Superintendent of Documents of the Government Printing Office told me that he had received less than 50 requests for information concerning the publication of the Federal Register, and in each instance it was a request to know the price that was going to be charged for the Federal Register; no individual who had written him had asked that his name be placed upon the mailing list to secure the Federal Register, and that they would pay whatever the charges might be.

The Income Tax Section of the Bureau of Internal Revenue issues regulations from time to time, as well as decisions that bear upon the law. You have probably a dozen private firms in this country that supply lawyers and accountants throughout the United States. with the regulations just as soon as they are printed, and they are in loose-leaf form and later they are placed in bound volumes. The customs division is in the same position.

I have talked to Dr. Mohler, the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. That division issues regulations from time to time in regard to the administration of the acts under his control, which affect tanners, packers and stockyards, and so forth, and all of those who

are operating under the acts that are under the control of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

He told me that they have national associations in Washington, with representatives that visit his offices practically daily; the minute a regulation is issued, they send a copy of that regulation throughout the country to those they represent.

I talked to Dr. Campbell, of the Pure Food and Drug Division, who made practically the same statement to me.

I asked them if they proposed, when the Federal Register was established, to discontinue their mailing lists and to let those who desired to secure copies of the regulations that might have legal effect from the Federal Register, and they both told me absolutely not, unless ordered to do so by action of Congress or by the Secretary of Agriculture. They said that it was essential that those who were affected by the act and by regulations secure copies immediately, and they thought that the best way to secure them was through their office and through these national organizations.

Now, as I understand it, when the "hot oil" case was pending before the Supreme Court, one of the justices asked the attorney who was arguing the case where they might secure the regulations that had been issued, I think, by the Department of the Interior. If there had been a clerk of any Congressman or Senator in the Courtroom at the time, who had nerve enough to talk to the Court, he could have told the justice immediately where they could have secured them.

There is no Executive order or no regulation that has ever been issued, that I know of, that Members of Congress cannot get immediately. Whenever a request is made, all you have to do is to get in touch with the proper officials in the proper Department.

We have a chief of publicity in the Department of Agriculture, and through that division all requests for documents clear. I spoke to the gentleman in charge of the distribution there, who has been there over 25 years, and he told me that it was very seldom that they received a request for a Government regulation.

I talked to Mr. Lewis, of the document room in the Capitol, where they supply the 434 Members of Congress with documents, and he told me that Members of Congress sent him letters when received to fill the orders for documents. He said that requests for Government regulations and Executive orders were few and far between.

The deficiency bill carried several hundred thousands of dollars for the compiling of bound volumes of the orders that have been issued in the past, Executive orders and regulations. The independent offices appropriation bill likewise carried an appropriation for the employees that are going to get out the Federal Register.

This is another new agency. We are hearing every day about cutting down Government expenditures. This agency has just been born; it is in its infancy; it is going to continue to grow. So will the appropriations and my object is to stop if it is not necessary.

I do not blame these gentlemen that are here this morning, who are connected with the Federal Archives, who have positions and who are going to be paid to get out the Federal Register. I willingly admit, if I were in their positions I no doubt would be here, myself, trying to defend this act and to hold onto my job.