100 



National Resources Committee 



the assignment of particular activities to particular services, 

 or (4) the regrouping of services * * * (U. S. C. 31:18). 



Implied Power to Conduct Research 



In a considerable number of Federal agencies re- 

 search functions have grown up to meet the needs of 

 administration for accurate information on which to 

 base policies, and without any specific statutory pro- 

 vision. Such research activities, however, are logical 

 outgrowths of legally assigned administrative or reg- 

 ulatory duties, and may therefore be said to be based 

 on implied powers to conduct research. Much of the 

 research carried on by the War and Navy Departments 

 is of this kind, as also is that of the Federal Communi- 

 cations Commission, Securities and Exchange Com- 

 mission, and National Labor Kelations Board. 



In this day of scientific warfare it is difficult to 

 imagine War and Navy Departments providing for 

 the national defense without engaging in extensive re- 

 search activities for the improvement of equipment 

 and materiel, but the nature and extent of these activi- 

 ties is determined by administrative needs rather than 

 by statute. It is similarly difficult to conceive of the 

 United States Employment Service increasing the use- 

 fulness of public employment offices throughout the 

 country "by developing and prescribing minimum 

 standards of efficiency," or assisting these offices "in 

 meeting problems peculiar to their localities" and 

 "promoting uniformity in their administrative and 

 statistical procedure" (48 Stat. 113, 114) without do- 

 ing research. The exercise of such implied powers, 

 however, is subject to Congressional approval, in the 

 form of appropriation for any program of research so 

 determined. 



Access to Information 



Research presupposes the collection and compilation 

 of basic data, and the collection of these data by gov- 

 ernment, especially in social science fields, may often 

 require a technical invasion of private, corporate, or 

 State rights. To insure access to adequate basic in- 

 formation, therefore, a number of Federal agencies 

 have been given specific power to require reports, docu- 

 ments, and other materials from corporations and other 

 non-governmental organizations. This power is com- 

 mon to all of the independent regulatory commissions, 

 and is shared by a few other agencies with respect to 

 specific types of data. 



To avoid imnecessary duplication in the collection 

 of material, a number of agencies also possess the 

 power to require other branches of the Government to 

 supply them with relevant information while the lit- 

 erary and scientific collections of the Government are 

 accessible to qualified investigators and students gen- 

 erally (U. S. C. 20:91). 



Data From Private Sources 



Perhaps the most complete and explicit authority 

 granted to any agency with respect to securing infor- 

 mation, documents, and testimony from private sources 

 is again that given to the Federal Trade Commission. 

 The Commission is empowered: 



To require, by general or special orders, corporations engaged 

 in commerce, excepting banks and common carriers subject to 

 tlie Act to regulate Commerce, or any class of them, or any of 

 tliem, respectively, to file witli the commission in such form as 

 the commission may prescribe annual or special, or both annual 

 and special, reports or answers in writing to specific questions, 

 furnishing to the commission such information as it may re- 

 quire as to the organization, business, conduct, practices, man- 

 agement, and relation to other corporations, partnerships, and 

 individuals of the respective corporations filing such reports or 

 answers in writing. Such reports and answers .shall be made 

 under oath, or otherwise, as the commission may prescribe, and 

 .shall be filed with the commission within such reasonable period 

 as the commission may prescribe, unless additional time be 

 granted in any case by the commission (38 Stat. 717, Sec. 

 6 (b)). 



In addition to this authority to require rei^orts and 

 answers to specific questions, section 9 of the act pro- 

 vides: 



That for the purposes of this act the commission, or its duly 

 authorized agent or agents, shall at all reasonable times have 

 access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy 

 any documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated 

 or proceeded against ; and the commission shall have power to 

 require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses 

 and the production of all such documentary evidence relating to 

 any matter under Investigation. * * * Such attendance 

 may be required from any place in the United States, at any 

 designated place of hearing. * * * The commission may 

 order testimony to be taken by deposition in any proceeding or 

 investigation pending under this act at any stage of such pro- 

 ceeding or investigation. 



The Commission may prosecute inquiries by its mem- 

 bers or agents in any part of the United States (sec. 3). 

 With only the phrasing altered to fit the particular 

 field of activity, similar powers are granted to various 

 other agencies, including all of the independent regula- 

 tory commissions. The Interstate Commerce Commis- 

 sion has authority to obtain from all common carriers 

 subject to its jurisdiction "full and complete informa- 

 tion necessary to enable the Commission to perform the 

 duties and carry out the objects for which it was cre- 

 ated," including power to "require the attendance and 

 testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, 

 papers, tariffs, contracts, agreements, and documents 

 relating to any matter under investigation" (24 Stat. 

 379, 338) ; and may require from such carriers annual 

 reports containing such information as it may prescribe 

 (ibid., 386). The Federal Communications Commission 

 has equally complete authority to require detailed in- 

 formation bearing on the field of its operations (48 



