Shaw, Jean Craighead

Shaw, W. M.

English

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Louisiana Law ReviewVolume 5 | Number 4May 1944AMERICANS ON GUARD, by Colonel O. R.McGuire. American Good Government Society,Washington, D. C.; Mitre Press, London, England,1942. Pp. 400. $5.00.Jean Craighead ShawW. M. ShawThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.Repository CitationJean Craighead Shaw and W. M. Shaw, AMERICANS ON GUARD, by Colonel O. R. McGuire. American Good Government Society,Washington, D. C.; Mitre Press, London, England, 1942. Pp. 400. $5.00., 5 La. L. Rev. (1944)Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol5/iss4/16BOOK REVIEWSThis book is well worth the time spent reading it and isrecommended to all students of the law, as well as to all whoseinterests, either cultural or commercial, are affected by thatstrange and baffling body of knowledge known as "the law ofthe land."However, the best advice to be given about this book andits value is to tell you to read it and You Be the Judge.CHARLIE HOLCOMBE PITCHER* AND SARGENT PITCHER, JR.**AMERICANS ON GUARD, by Colonel 0. R. McGuire. American GoodGovernment Society, Washington, D. C.; Mitre Press, London,England, 1942. Pp. 400. $5.00.Americans on Guard is a collection of a few of the ad-dresses delivered to various Bars, business organizations andclubs throughout the United States by Colonel 0. R. McGuire,who was former counsel to the Comptroller General of the UnitedStates, and special assistant to various 'attorneys-general of theUnited States. Principally, the addresses are concerned with ourtendency toward administrative absolutism which threatens, ac-cording to the author, our constitutional form of government bygiving too much authority to the executive department throughadministrative agencies, with the consequent extension of theexecutive power into both the legislative and judicial branchesof the government and the United States becoming a governmentof men rather than of law. The way suggested by Colonel Mc-Guire to correct such absolutism is through passage of a bill pro-viding for public hearings on regulations made by the variousagencies and the granting to the courts ample review of adminis-trative decisions.During the entire six years of study that was spent in thedrafting of the American Bar Association's Administrative LawBill,' Colonel McGuire served as a member and then as chairmanof the Administrative Law Committee of that body. The bill pro-posed by the American Bar Association after going through thepreliminary steps was introduced into Congress as the Logan-Walter Administrative Law Bill, was subsequently passed by both*Practicing member of the East Baton Rouge Bar.**Practicing member of the East Baton Rouge Bar.1. For its provisions see (1939) 1 Louisiana Law Review, 570.1944]LOUISIANA LAW REVIEWhouses of Congress, bit was doomed to defeat by the veto of thepresident.It is around the ill-fated Logan-Walter Bill that a great num-ber of Colonel McGuire's addresses revolve since through its pro-visions he sees the way to "regulate the regulators and governthe governors," to quote one of the chapter headings. Generally,the bill is concerned with the adjective side of the law affectingall administrative agencies. It has a threefold purpose, i.e., toprovide uniform public notice and hearings of all rules adoptedby the agencies in the exercise of quasi-legislative powers, toprovide uniformity of procedure for administrative review beforesingle-headed and multiple-headed administrative agencies, andto provide uniform procedure and the basis for all judicial reviewof administrative rules and decisions. The adoption of the bill,Colonel McGuire claims, would protect an individual's rightsfrom possible arbitrary and capricious action by either the regu-lations or decisions of a board; would simplify the study for law-yers, government officials and employees, who in appearing nowbefore the various agencies, must do extensive research of eachagency's particular procedure; and it would also mean less workfor judges who must do the same once a case from an agencycomes to them for review.Colonel McGuire does not hold up his hands in horror at theterm bureaucracy. He is cognizant of the fact that administrativeagencies are a necessary part of our federal machinery in orderthat the modern day complexities of our government may beexpedited: that neither the judiciary nor the legislative bodycould handle the multitudinous problems over which our govern-ment has control-and things which the government must controlin order that people may be protected from themselves. But healso thinks that too much power vested in the hands of admin-istrators will be ruinous to our republican form of governmentsince there will be among the administrators those who carry"swords not scales of justice. 12 Since in most cases the adminis-trators serve by political appointment, he fears that their tend-ency will be the favoring of the whims of those to whom theyowe their position and the carrying out of their own views ratherthan the administration of justice.The crusaders in some agencies are able to see their ideasconsummated because of certain statutes which provide that the2. P. 261. A quotation the author attributes to Raymond Moley, pp. 110 and204, n. 35.[Vol. VBOOK REVIEWSfindings of facts by an agency are conclusive on the courts ifsupported by the evidence; thus, in effect, review by a court islimited to questions of law. It is claimed that is no real judicialreview since anyone could manage to put enough evidence intothe record to support his findings. The Logan-Walter Bill wouldhave prevented such action by allowing the independent judiciaryexamination of the evidence to see whether it substantially sup-ported the findings of fact, whether the decision was clearly er-roneous, whether the parties had been granted a full and fairhearing, and whether the entire proceedings were in accordancewith the relevant statutes and the Constitution.Because lawyers represent all classes of society and are en-trusted to a great extent with the preservation of the individualcitizen's rights and liberties through seeing that the law is ap-plied to both the rulers and ruled alike, Colonel McGuire pri-marily directs his appeal for standardization of administrativeprocedural law to the legal profession. He thinks that administra-tive action under certain statutes will result in the destruction ofan individual's rights and liberties and that lawyers above allshould recognize the fact "Mr. Justice Frankfurter has well statedthat rules of procedure are basic and fundamental and are equi-site for the preservation of some of the most precious values ofcivilization. 3Not only are there lectures on the Logan-Walter Bill, butalso addresses of a more general nature. Just to mention a few ofColonel McGuire's topics, they are as follows: George Washing-ton, The Empire Builder; The Achilles Heel of ConstitutionalGovernment, which he thinks is the greed of people for publicmoney; Political Ideologies In This Changing World: Can WeKeep This Republic? Our Republican Form of Government andthe Straw Ballot in which he stresses the inherent danger of suchpolls "by infusing into"'4 our government "the most dangerouselements of a direct democracy"'; Women and Good Government;Sanctions and International Peace, an address given in 1926 thatthere could be no lasting peace without sufficient sanctions toenforce the peace.The book has its moments of repetition and of circumlocu-tion, but both are to be expected in a collection of addresses andit is to be remembered that Colonel McGuire delivered a number3. P. 109.4* P. 172.5. P. 173.1944]LOUISIANA LAW REVIEWof lectures to various groups on the Logan-Walter Bill. In orderfor audiences to grasp an idea, a speaker must repeat in orderthat his hearers may learn. In addition, one delivering an addressattempts to capture the interest of his listeners and he sometimesdoes that through the use of colorful phrases. However, whetherColonel McGuire was delivering an address to either an OregonBar Association Meeting or the 1938 graduating class of LouisianaState University, 'or any other group, he had thoroughly versedhimself on the history of that state; thus, in his introductory re-marks he must have conveyed to the audience his interest in theirparticular section of the country and it is imagined that theylistened to the remainder of what he had to say. At least, thatis the hope since there is need for uniformity in procedural ad-ministrative law. Possibly through Colonel McGuire's efforts, theoriginal bill proposed by the American Bar Association will ulti-mately become law.Jean Craighead Shaw,* individuallyand as agent and attorney in factfor W. M. Shaw.*** Member of the Athens, Louisiana, Bar.** Associate of the firm of Meadors and Gensler, Homer, Louisiana. Atpresent serving as Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the United States Navy.[Vol. V

AMERICANS ON GUARD, by Colonel O. R. McGuire. American Good Government Society, Washington, D. C.; Mitre Press, London, England, 1942. Pp. 400. $5.00.

https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1407&context=lalrev

AMERICANS ON GUARD, by Colonel O. R. McGuire. American Good Government Society, Washington, D. C.; Mitre Press, London, England, 1942. Pp. 400. $5.00.

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