National Affairs: Public Interest

After lasting more than six months, a suit instituted by the Department of Justice to recover German Dye Patents sold by the Government to the Chemical Foundation, Inc., was settled. The Government lost. Its claim was denied, and the title of the Chemical Foundation to the patents was confirmed.

Judge Hugh M. Morris of the U. S. District Court at Wilmington, Del., gave an opinion of 20,000 words, denying the allegations of the Government that the sale was illegal because of an insufficient price, because of lack of authority, or because of a technical conspiracy.

Some 5,000 German patents in question were seized by the Government during the War and sold to the Chemical Foundation for $250,000. About $50 apiece was, so the Government declared, a ridiculous price for the patents. Judge Morris’ opinion said in part:

“If the executive officers upon whom Congress conferred the power of disposal of enemy property acted within the scope of their powers, their acts are not subject to judicial nullification or review. . . .

“In all such sales the statute requires the President to consider the public interest. Public interest is not a synonym for money. It may not be defined in terms of finance. It embraces all the great public needs. It permits dealing with the conditions which exist in the nation so as to bring out of them the greatest welfare of its people. . . The transaction in suit was not one granting a subsidy to a private industry. It was a devotion in the public interest of the property to a public use. The property is available to any American citizen, copartnership or corporation that desires to use it for the advancement in the United States of the only science or industry to which, by reason of its nature, that property is applicable.”

Attorney General Daugherty announced that an appeal would be taken to the Supreme Court.