Stanley Forman Reed

“ Just as in the Adkins case the determination of the sweep of the term 'bituminous coal' was for this same administrative agency, so here there must be left to it, subject to the basic prerequisites of lawful adjudication, the determination of 'producer.' The separation of production and consumption is complete when a buyer obtains supplies from a seller totally free from buyer connection. Their identity is undoubted when the consumer extracts coal from its own land with its own employees. ”

“ Disposal must mean something more than physical production, delivery, or transportation of the coal of another. If it were otherwise, the superintendent of a captive mine would be subject to the tax because he is engaged in mining coal and delivering it to the owner who consumes it. It is well known that in many coal fields coal is gotten out by employing a miner who in turn employs his own gang to assist him in the mine. If the Director's position is correct, this method of operation would subject the owner and operator of a captive mine to regulation under the Act. ”

“ It will hardly be denied that, by respondents' total operation, coal is produced. If they are not the producers, because they pay a contract price instead of wages for its production, they are not subject to the 19 1/2% tax which applies only to producers; and they are thus exempt from the only sanction which would compel them to become Code members subject to the regulatory provisions of the Act. ”

“ The term 'producer' is not a technical term or a term of art, but the statute has not left the Director or the courts without guides respecting the meaning of the word as used in the statute. It is the Director's duty to observe those guides in applying the statute and, if he fails so to do, it is the obligation of the courts to observe them in performing their statutory duty to review his determination. ”

“ Any person aggrieved by an order issued by the Commission in a proceeding to which such person is a party may obtain a review of such order in the Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States, within any circuit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, or in the United States Court of Appeals for the Better practice might have suggested a dismissal since the Director found Seaboard was not a producer. ”

“ Section 4-A states: 'Any producer believing that any commerce in coal is not subject to the provisions of section 4 (831, 832, and 833) * * * may file with the Commission an application, verified by oath or affirmation for exemption, setting forth the facts upon which such claim is based. ”

“ In the first or 1935 act captive coal was taxed along with other coal. The tax was laid upon the 'sale or other disposal of all bituminous coal produced within the United States.' It was '15 per centum on the sale price at the mine, or in the case of captive coal the fair market value of such coal at the mine.' 49 Stat. ”

“ The second step in this arrangement was for the landowner lessors of the lease just described to lease simultaneously to a contractor selected by Seaboard the mining equipment on the demised premises consisting of buildings, tipples, machinery and other appurtenances necessary or convenient for extracting the coal. This equipment was sufficient for reasonably economical mining. It was further provided in the coal lease that the term and the renewal privileges of the equipment lease should be coextensive with those of the coal lease. ”

“ The supplier paid and assumed all obligations to the landowner except the royalty, including taxes. He carried employer's liability and casualty insurance, and agreed to bear the cost of all repairs, additions or betterments even under the alternate cost plus plan, as well as those described as commissary or welfare expenses. ”

“ This may create consequences which would not follow if the enterprise itself, through its own employees, accomplished the same ultimate result. Often in the law, the selection of a particular business form as, for instance, carrying on a common business through two corporations, may create legal liability, Edwards v. ”