The Government Corporation in the United States
| Date | 01 June 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1959.tb01527.x |
| Author | Harold Seidman |
| Published date | 01 June 1959 |
The Government Corporation
in
the
United States
By
HAROLD
SEIDMAN
Mr. Seidman is Assistant Chief, Office
of
Management and Organization,
U.S.
Bureau
of
the Budget. His authoritative general survey
of
the
Public Corporation in the United States illustrates some
of
the difficulties
of
translating American terminology and practice into British, particularly
when shades
of
meaning are
so
important as they are in the case of the
precise status of
a
Public Corporation.
In
general the
‘‘
United States,”
when not used geographically can, in this context, roughly be translated
as the Crown, and
“
agency
”
and
“
bureau” as Ministry and central
department. It should also be remembered that
‘‘
incorporation
”
and
‘‘
corporation
’’
usually refer to the limited liability company in the
United States,
TRUE and complete understanding of the American constitutional
A
system cannot be obtained from a literal reading of the seven articles
and twenty-two amendments which constitute the written Constitution.
Understanding
of
the
“
living constitution
”
requires thorough knowledge
of bothxhe written document itself and the body of judicial interpretations,
customs and traditions composing the unwritten constitution. Similarly a
realistic appraisal of the United States agency known as a Government
corporation demands something more than an analysis of pertinent statutory
provisions. Indeed, there are no general Federal laws defining the nature,
authorities and immunities of Government corporations. The failure to
recognize that the United States Government corporation is in large measure
a product
of
precedent, as reflected in the provisions of charters enacted
by the Congress, judicial interpretations, traditions, public, agency and
congressional attitudes has led to widespread misunderstandings both in
the United States and abroad.
The Government corporation is now the most common form of organization
for United States owned public enterprises. The corporate device gained
full respectability when President Truman laid down the criteria for the
use
of
Government corporations in his 1948 Budget Message.l President
Truman stated
:
“
Experience indicates that the corporate form of organization is peculiarly
adapted to the administration of governmental programmes which are
predominantly of
a
commercial character-those which are revenue
producing, are at least potentially self-sustaining, and involve a large
number of business-type transactions with the public. In their business
operations such programmes require greater flexibility than the customary
type of appropriation budget ordinarily permits.
As
a rule the usefulness
of a corporation lies
in
its ability to deal with the public in the manner
employed by private enterprise for similar work.”
There are at present thirteen active wholly-owned Government corporations,
namely, the Commodity Credit Corporation, Federal Crop Insurance
Corporation, Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, Virgin
Islands Corporation, Federal Prison Industries Corporation, Export-Import
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