The Commodity Credit Corporation: a Case Study of a Government Corporation
| Published date | 01 September 1953 |
| Date | 01 September 1953 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295300600309 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
559
THE
COMMODITY
CREDIT
CORPORATION:
A
CASE
STUDY
OF
A
GOVERNMENT
CORPORATION
REED
L.
FRISCHKNECHT*
University
of
Utah
I
*Acknowledgment
is
made
to
the
Research
Committee
of
the
University
of
Utah
for
assistance
in
the
preparation
of
this
study.
EBATE
CONCERNING
the
use
of
the
corporate
device
in
the
execution
of
public
programs
has
raged
for
nearly
twenty
years.
’&dquo;&dquo;’~
Argument
has
centered
about
the
relationship
of
government
cor-
porations
to
the
executive
and
legislative
branches
of
government,
the
powers
and
functions
appropriate
to
government
corporations,
and
their
internal
organization.
The
corporate
device
was
borrowed
from
private
business,
and
is
thought
to
be
peculiarly
appropriate
to
the
conduct
of
businesslike
enter-
prises
by
government.
The
use
of
the
government
corporation,
however,
is
not
necessary
in
order
to
achieve
either
of
the
two
features
that
have
made
the
private
corporation
an
attractive
business
form.
For
instance,
the
government
corporation
is
not
employed
to
obtain
limitation of
liability
-
on
the
contrary,
one
of
the
weighty
arguments
for
incorporation
is
that
it
renders
the
government
liable
to
suit
and
thus
encourages
businessmen
to
deal
with
it;
nor
is
it
used
to
make
possible
the
pooling
of
investment ~
-
today
the
Treasury
of
the
United
States
seems
to
be
equal
to
the
most
extravagant
demands.
Instead,
the
use
of
the
governmental
corporation
is
advocated
because
this
device
makes
possible
a
flexibility
of
operation
comparable
to
that
of
private
business.
Flexibility,
however,
is
a
vague
word.
How
far
does
it
connote
in-
dependence ?
Some
of
the
champions
of
the
government
corporation
seem
to
desire
the
form
not
especially
because
it is
suited
to
businesslike
under-
takings,
but
because
they
favor
some
degree
of
administrative
decentraliza-
tion.
This
appears,
for
example,
to
be
true
of
Marshall
Dimock.2
2
W.
F.
Willoughby
went
further;
with
him
the
government
corporation
was
a
means
for
by-passing
the
President
and
bringing
administrative
agencies
into
direct
dependence
upon
Congress.3
Conversely,
those
who
share
the
view
1
Of
course
the
corporate
form
was
used
for
the
first
and
second
Banks
of
the
United
States
in
order
to
make
possible
public
and
private
investment.
The
corporate
form
is
also
used
in
the
so-called
mixed
corporations
—
the
banks
for
co-operatives
and
the
home
loan
banks -
and
in
the
federal
reserve
banks,
the
FDIC,
and
the
FS&LIC,
which
are
wholly
financed
by
the
member
or
insured
institutions.
But
the
purpose
of
requiring
private
investment
is
not
to
compensate
for
any
deficiency
in
public
credit;
it
is
to
saddle
those
benefited
with
a
part
of
the
cost.
2
"Government
Corporations:
A
Focus
of
Policy
and
Administration,
II,"
American
Political
Science
Review,
Vol.
43
1,145-1,164.
Dr.
Dimock
expresses
his
distrust
of
the
PCAM
con-
ception
of
the
executive
in
"The
Objectives
of
Governmental
Reorganization,"
Public
Administra-
tion
Review,
Vol.
11
(1951),
p.
233.
3
"The
National
Government
as
a
Holding
Company,"
Political
Science
Quarterly,
Vol.
32
(1917),
p.
505.
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