Thomas Paper Stock Co v. Porter, s. 67 and 578

• Decision Date: 22 April 1946
• Docket Number: Nos. 67 and 578,s. 67 and 578
• Citation: 66 S.Ct. 884,90 L.Ed. 1078,328 U.S. 50
• Parties: THOMAS PAPER STOCK CO. et al. v. PORTER, Price Administrator (two cases)
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

328 U.S. 50

66 S.Ct. 884

90 L.Ed. 1078

THOMAS PAPER STOCK CO. et al.

v PORTER, Price Administrator (two cases).

Nos. 67 and 578.

Argued Feb. 25, 26, 1946.

Decided April 22, 1946.

Clauses 3 and 4 of section 2(j) of Emergency Price Control Act provide three alternative situations in any one of which the Price Administrator is authorized to employ specifications or standards in connection with price controls. Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, § 2(j), as amended, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 902(j).

Under Taft Amendment to Emergency Price Control Act, standardization is permitted even though the Price Administrator defines a standard which has not previously been used by the Industry or required by other governmental agency. Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, § 2(j), as amended, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 902(j).

The Taft Amendment to Emergency Price Control Act precludes standardized commodity prices until such time as the Price Administrator determines that no other method of price control is practicable. Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, § 2(j), as amended, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 902(j).

The Taft Amendment to Emergency Price Control Act authorizing Price Administrator to standardize a commodity after determining that no practicable alternative exists for securing effective price control of such commodity contains no implied limitation that all outstanding standardizing regulations are to be deemed continuingly valid. Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, § 2(j), as amended, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 902(j).

Under Taft Amendment to Emergency Price Control Act authorizing Price Administrator to standardize a commodity after determining that no practicable alternative exists for securing effective price control of such commodity, the Price Administrator does not have a reasonable time to make such determination during which period outstanding standardizing regulations will continue in force. Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, § 2(j), as amended, 50 U.S.C.Appendix, § 902(j).

In No. 67:

Mr. Jack H. Oppenheim, of Chicago, Ill., for petitioners Thomas Paper Stock Co.

Mr. Richard H. Field, of Washington, D.C., for respondent.

In No. 578:

Mr. Jack H. Oppenheim, of Chicago, Ill., for petitioners.

Mr. Jacob D. Hyman, of Washington, D.C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Having been charged with violations of a price regulation, petitioners challenged its validity before the Emergency Court of Appeals by two different modes in two separate actions. The claim of invalidity in both proceedings was based on the Taft Amendment to the Price Control Act. Adjudication of this claim will dispose of both cases without consideration of procedural issues raised before the Emergency Court.

Thomas Paper Stock Company, a dealer in paper scrap, and its president were indicted under § 205(b) of the Emergency Price Control Act, 56 Stat. 23, 33, 50 U.S.C.App. § 925(b), 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 925(b), for the sale of wastepaper in violation of Maximum Price Regulation No. 30, 7 Fed.Reg. 9732 (Nov. 24, 1942). Section 1347.14(d) of that regulation fixed the maximum price for unsorted wastepaper in terms of a specification or standard. Id. at 9735. On similar allegations, the Administrator later began an action against petitioners for treble damages. § 205(e), 56 Stat. 23, 34, 50 U.S.C.App. § 925(e), 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 925(b). Both proceedings involved sales of wastepaper between July 16, 1943 and September 11, 1943. The dates are crucial. July 16, 1943 is the effective date of the Taft Amendment, the proper construction of which is the controlling issue. On September 11, 1943, the Administrator, by an amendment to the Maximum Price Regulation No. 30 'determined' that 'no practicable alternative exists for securing effective price control' with respect to such wastepaper except through the standardization defined in the pre-Taft Amendment Maximum Price Regulation No. 30. 8 Fed.Reg. 12554 (Sept. 14, 1943). The problem before us is whether, after the Taft Amendment sales of wastepaper were governed by a maximum price based on a standard, prior to the determination by the Administrator on September 11, 1943 that there was no practicable alternative to such standardization.

And so we turn to the Taft Amendment. It added subsection (j) to § 2 of the Emergency Price Control Act. The relevant provisions of the Taft Amendment are these:

'(j) Nothing in this Act shall be construed * * * (3) as authorizing the Administrator to standardize any commodity, unless the Administrator shall determine, with respect to such standardization, that no practicable alternative exists for securing effective price control with respect to such commodity; or (4) as authorizing any order of the Administrator fixing maximum prices for different kinds, classes, or types of a commodity which are described in terms of specifications or standards, unless such specifications or standards were, prior to such order, in general use in the trade or industry affected, or have previously been promulgated and their use lawfully required by another Government agency.' 57 Stat. 566, 50 U.S.C.App. § 902(j), 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 902(j).

We agree with the Emergency Court that Congress thus provided 'three alternative situations in any one of which (the Administrator) is authorized to employ specifications or standards in connection with price control.' Thomas Paper Stock Co. v. Bowles, Em.App., 148 F.2d 831, 835. Thus, in the case of wastepaper, standardization is permitted under Clause (3) of the Amendment although the Administrator may define a standard which 'had not previously been used by the wastepaper industry or required by another Government agency.' Id., 148 F.2d at page 837. But we are also of opinion that beginning with July 16, 1943, the day the Taft Amendment came into force, it precluded standardized commodity prices unless and until the Administrator 'determined' that no other method of price control was practicable. The terms of the Amendment, in the circumstances of its setting, see, e.g., H.R.Rep.No.697, 78th Cong., 1st Sess (1943), bring us to this conclusion, but we need add little to the full discussion the Taft Amendment received in the opinion of the court and that of the dissent below. Thomas Paper Stock Co. v. Bowles, Em.App., 151 F.2d 345. For us the decisive consideration is that the Amendment was a rigorous limitation upon the powers of the Administrator based upon the Congressional view that standardizations outstanding at the time the Taft Amendment was passed had not been authorized by the more general language of the original Act. § 2(h), 56 Stat. 23, 27, 50 U.S.C.App. § 902(h), 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 902(h).¹ Accordingly, Congress laid down a specific requirement for the validity of prices based on standards, and a fair reading of the Amendment in the light of its history requires that the Administrator must indicate that he has fulfilled this requirement. See United States v. Baltimore & O.R. Co., 293 U.S. 454, 55 S.Ct. 268, 79 L.Ed. 587. It would hardly satisfy the restriction which the Taft Amendment placed upon the Administrator's power to standardize to allow him to continue situations which, as Congress thought, needed correction.

In signing the joint resolution containing the Taft Amendment, the Presid nt did so with the understanding that it 'preserved the power in the Administrator to 'standardize' a commodity in any case on which this was absolutely essential to an effective system of fixing prices.' See Statement of Price Administrator's Reasons Involved in the Issuance of Supplementary Order No. 64 (Sept. 11, 1943). Congress thus gave power to standardize; it did not stereotype past standardizations. With entire candor the Administrator conceded here that he 'had many regulations outstanding which required re-examination in the light of the terms of the Taft Amendment.' But although the Amendment apparently had the acquiescence of the Administrator, it contains no saving clause that all outstanding standardizing regulations were to be deemed continuingly valid, nor is there any intimation warranting such an implied limitation. The court below seemed to recognize the duty of a manifested determination by the Administrator of the need for a standardized price by suggesting that the Administrator showed 'reasonable promptness' in making the determination applicable to wastepaper within two months after the Taft Amendment. But Congress did not sanction standardization for what we may deem a reasonable period after the enactment of the Taft Amendment without the Administrator's determination of its need.

This is too substantial a qualification to be made by judicial interpolation. Nor can we draw on broad arguments about inflationary pressures on price control in construing legislation dealing with so technically confining a provision as that of the Taft Amendment. The legislation was too specifically directed against prior unauthor- ized regulations, promulgated no doubt with the best of motives in the great effort against inflation, for us to give it a meaning other than that which the language in the context of its history yields. Of course, all provisions of the Emergency Countrol Act are infused by its far-reaching aims. But the accommodation of the various interests involved in a system of price control are for Congress and not for us, and we must construe its legislation as fairly as we can to catch the will behind the words. That the construction we have placed upon the Taft Amendment does not touch the vital forces in price control is indicated by the Government's opposition to a review of this litigation on the ground that it was devoid of much practical significance.

It only remains to unsnarl the complicated procedures by which the petitioners sought to establish the invalidity of the regulation which they were charged with violating. On June 15, 1944, petitioners...