92263 CONSISTING OF MESSRS. MILTON W. SHREVE, (CHAIRMAN) IN CHARGE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE APPROPRIATION BILL, 1925 SIXTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1924 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE APPROPRIATION BILL, 1925. HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE, MESSRS. MILTON W. SHREVE (CHAIRMAN), GEORGE HOLDEN TINKHAM, ERNEST R. ACKERMAN, WILLIAM B. OLIVER, AND ANTHONY J. GRIFFIN, OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IN CHARGE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE APPROPRIATION BILL FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1925, ON THE DAYS FOLLOWING, NAMELY: MONDAY, MARCH 10, 1924. STATEMENT OF MR. RUSH L. HOLLAND, ASSISTANT SUPREME COURT DUTIES OF ATTORNEY GENERAL, ASSISTAN′′ Mr. SHREVE. We have with us this morning Assistant Attorney General Holland. Mr. Holland, we will be glad to have you give us a general statement of the work of the Department of Justice. You may give it in your own way, with such references as you think would be of interest to the committee. Mr. HOLLAND. I think, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, that I can do nothing better than to read into the record a statement which appears in the Congressional Directory under the subtitle of "Department of Justice," which was recently prepared, or, rather, recently revised, and which succinctly states the distribution of the work in the Department of Justice. With your permission, I will read that. This is the statement that appears in the Congressional Directory: ATTORNEY GENERAL. The Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice (see sec. 346 R. S.) and as such is the chief law officer of the Federal Government. He represents the United States in legal matters generally and gives advice and opinions when requested by the President or by the heads of the executive departments. He appears in the Supreme Court of the United States in cases of exceptional gravity and importance; exercises general superintendence and direction over United States district attorneys and marshals in the various judicial districts of the United States, and provides special counsel for the United States in cases of exceptional importance or when the character of the interests involved requires such action. (See sec. 354, R. S., as amended by act of February 27, 1877, 19 Stat., 241-; secs, 356, 357, and 358, R. S.; act of June 30, 1906, 34 Stat. 816 -; secs 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, and 366, R. S.) SOLICITOR GENERAL. The Solicitor General assists the Attorney General in the execution of his duties and, by special provision of law, exercises all such duties in case of a vacancy in the office of the Attorney General, or his absence or disability. Under the direction of the Attorney General, The Solicitor General has special charge of the business of and appears for and represents the Government in the Supreme Court of the United States. When requested by the Attorney General, the Solicitor General prepares opinions rendered to the President and the heads of the executive departments, and may conduct and argue any case in which the United States is interested, in any court of the United States, or may attend to the interests of the Government in any State court or elsewhere, conferring with and directing the law officers of the Government throughout the country in the performance of their duties when occasion requires. (See secs. 347 and 349, R. S.) ASSISTANT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. The Assistant to the Attorney General has special charge of all suits and other matters arising under the Federal antitrust laws and performs such duties as may be required of him by the Attorney General. In addition he has, under current assignments, charge of Alien Property Custodian matters and also investigations and prosecutions of alleged fraud in war contracts, as well as Shipping Board litigation (excepting admiralty). (Originally authorized under act of March 3, 1903, sec. 1, 32 Stat. 1062. Salary increased to $9,000 per annum by act of August 22, 1913, 38 Stat. 218.) Mr. TINKHAM. In relation to Shipping Board and Alien Property Custodian matters, he only takes jurisdiction and action when those matters are referred to him by those establishments? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes; when referred by the Alien Property Custodian and the Shipping Board. My note here also refers to "alleged frauds in war contracts." The war fraud contracts are, in fact, handled directly under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General, the detailed part of that work having been by him assigned to what we call our war transactions section, which is presided over by three judges to whom we refer as the advisory council. The advisory council, some member of which, I think, appeared before this committee at the last hearing, has general jurisdiction over war-fraud matters or war-contract matters. Some of them are alleged to be frauds and some are not. They are all subject to the order of the Attorney General, and for this reason, if I may explain, it was contemplated originally that one attorney would be put in charge of that work of the War Transactions Section, but the Attorney General, being unable to get an outstanding attorney who would handle that matter as he thought it ought to be handled with the money available, after he rested under the delay incident to his efforts to secure such a man, finally, in order to get the matter started, said: I will take personal charge of that myself, but, since I can not take personal charge of the details, I will put in three judges down there to act as a sort of court to pass on those matters, and they can bring any matters regarding which they are in doubt to me for my consideration. Therefore, the Attorney General has been paying more especial attention to that business than to some other work in the department which is regularly assigned to the Assistant Attorneys General. While the statute provides that the Solicitor General shall be the Acting Attorney General in the absence or inability of the Attorney General to act, as a matter of detail in our department and as a matter of convenience, also, in the absence of the Attorney General, and by agreement between the Solicitor General and the Assistant to the Attorney General, that work has been divided. General Beck, who is the Solicitor General, has not had time, because of his engagements in the Supreme Court, to pay attention to matters of detail requiring the action of the Acting Attorney General; so that, by an arrangement between him and Mr. Seymour, who is the assistant to the Attorney General, the Solicitor General signs as Acting Attorney General all opinions in matters in which technically must be signed by the Acting Attorney General, but some other matters of detail have been handled by Mr. Seymour as Acting Attorney General. That is by virtue of an agreement and understanding with the Attorney General. I make that statement because sometimes statements have appeared in the papers to the effect that Mr. Seymour was the Acting Attorney General, whereas the statute requires that the Solicitor General must be the Acting Attorney General. That is simply a mistake in the papers. ASSISTANT ATTORNEYS GENERAL. Now, we have the seven Assistant Attorneys General, all having the same rank, and they are heads of different departments. Mr. OLIVER. Suppose you name them. Mr. HOLLAND. They are Assistant Attorneys General Lovett, Wells, Davis, Ottinger, Hoppin, Willebrandt, and Holland. Mr. OLIVER. Will you give the divisions or sections that they represent, with a statement of the business allotted to each section? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. I will read the statement in the directory. The several Assistant Attorneys General assist the Attorney General in the performance of his duties and when directed prepare legal opinions and under assignment by the Solicitor General assist in the argument of cases in the Supreme Court. In addition thereto each, under the organization of the department, has special duties, respectively, as follows: ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL. The position of Administrative Assistant Attorney General is now occupied by Mr. Rush L. Holland. The administrative assistant exercises, by order of the Attorney General, supervision over all of the major units of organization of the department, including the division of investigation, general agent, appointment clerk, disbursing clerk, superintendent of prisons, pardon attorney, and the chief clerk; and also general supervision, as above, over United States attorneys and marshals. 1 This office has charge of authorizations for appointments and the salaries pertaining thereto, when not otherwise fixed by law, also |