Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ It is incredible that after the conspicuous mention of the United States in the first place at the beginning of the section and the grant of a limited priority, Congress should have intended to smuggle in a general preference by muffled words at the end. The States are mentioned in (5) before the United States, showing that their laws were primarily in mind. The United States seems added to avoid some possibly overlooked case. The ordinary dignities of speech would have led to the mention of the United States at the beginning of the clause, if within its purview. ”

“ The priorty was denied in the first two cases by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. 1 F. (2d) 860; Id. 864, but it was allowed in the Second Circuit without any reported opinion, following an earlier case in that Circuit, In re Tidewater Coal Exchange (C. C. A.) 280 F. 648. ”