Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ The plaintiff did not stand as a private person making a private contract with a business corporation. He was an officer of the United States charged with duties as such. In substance the gold was the property of the United States. It is true that the legal title was in the Corporation, that the property of the Corporation might have been taken to pay a judgment against it, and that in other ways the difference of personality would be recognized. ”

“ The very existence of the Corporation was created to carry on activities required by the war. Its property was held for that and no other end. It was admitted at the argument, and of course could not be denied, that if the United States had been the legal owner of the gold the plaintiff would have been acting only in the course of his duty in carrying it. We are of opinion that the same thing is true here. The order of the Secretary embodied no suspension of the Regulation but only a recognition of the fact that this was not a service for which the plaintiff was entitled to charge. ”

“ The defendant, although in form a trading corporation organized under the laws of Delaware, was formed in pursuance of an Executive Order dated August 14, 1917, as an agency to enable the United States Food Administration to buy, store and sell wheat, among other things. The stock, except the shares necessary to qualify seven directors, was all subscribed for and owned by the United States. Even the directors' shares were held by the United States, endorsed in blank. The stock ultimately was $500,000,000. ”