36 



search for an appropriate form of corrective action specifically relevant 

 to it. The Small Business Committee had no jm'isdiction over the 

 fundamental ]5rotection of the household or private consumer from 

 fraud. The abundant testimonials of satisfied users of AD-X2 ai)i)ar- 

 ently foreclosed any interest in the case from the aspect of the small 

 business as a consumer to be protected. The fundamental legal issue 

 of testimonials versus scientific evidence was repeatedly discussed 

 in the hearings, but Mdthout being structiu-ed as a problem for s^^s- 

 tematic analysis. Neither the Post Office Department nor the FTC 

 could find in the hearings any substantial guidance on this aspect, 

 other than that the NBS clearly regarded testimonials (or uncon- 

 trolled tests) as vorthless, while many Members of Congress con- 

 sidered them as of important practical value. 



The apparent tendency of the committee to eschew the fimdamental 

 aspects of the case, in order to disj)ose of it as a case, was strengtliened 

 by tlie urgency with which it was presented. One source of urgency 

 was the Post Office decision which, if allowed to stand, would i)robably 

 have put the ap})ellant out of business. ^° Another was the strong dis- 

 approval by the scientific community of the treatment of Dr. Astin, as 

 represented in the press. ^^ 



It is possible, too, that a further sense of urgency was contributed 

 by a recognition on the part of the committee members that too much 

 time and energy was being devoted, in the early days of a new political 

 administration, to an issue of less than transcendant importance. For 

 exami)le, Chairman Thye expressed some irritation that Ritchie, tlie 

 principal witness for himself, had been unable to present his case in 

 the first day of the hearings, and had run over to midday of the 

 second. ^^ 



The Ritchie presentation was so voluminous, in fact, and touched on 

 so raan}^ points of grievance, with so little organization of material, and 

 with so much documentation of varied germaneness, and so much 

 technical data of varying quality, that the impression it conveyed 

 depended largely on the preconditioning and technical sophistication 

 of the listener. 



Structuring the issue 



Secretary Weeks made clear to the committee, March 31, 1953, 

 that he regarded the AD-X2 testing controversy as an internal matter 

 within his Department, and described the actions he proposed to take 

 to resolve it. He questioned the power given to the FTC and suggested 

 that restraint of trade by regulatory agencies should be used sparingly. 

 He noted that "business has suft'ered severely at the hands of certain 

 bureaucrats," and saw no reason ''why a product should be denied an 

 opportunity in the marketplace." The enlargement of the issue that 



M As Chairman Thye told Dr. Astin (Hearings, op. cit., p. 335): "* * * If this becomes a prolonged 

 investigation, the manufacturer in question might well be out of business and long since liquidated by 

 bankruptcy action." 



»i Drew Pearson, "Astin Ouster Laid to Influence," the Washington Post (Mar. 31, 1953), p. B-31. Ac- 

 cording to Pearson, Dr. Astin was "fired" by Sheafler, and "lectured regarding the Bureau of Standards 

 diagnosis of battery additives." LawTcnce describes the "sharp critical reaction" to the Astin dismissal 

 on the part of "scientists. Congressmen, civil service groups, consumer organizations, newspapers, and 

 private citizens" (p. 22). He notes (p. 24) that politicized organizations of scientists "issued angry press 

 releases, called meetings, badgered the administration, and sought to call public attention to tlie Govern- 

 ment's alleged assault on science." Another line of action was taken by members of the more staid National 

 Academy of Sciences who "did not wish to add to the embarrassment of the administration, and they be- 

 lieved that they could help the Bureau more effectively by working quietly within the administration 

 and tlirough established channels." 



•2 Hearings, op. cit., pp. 91, 160. 



