That this was no imaginary danger was shown by the
number of speakers in all parts of the House who complained of the harsh operation of the similar provisions under the Agricultural Marketing Acts. There can be no question but that these " trials " in which no rules of evidence are observed and in which the " judges " have no legal training or qualifi- cations whatsoever, have caused widespread and justifiable resentment. Mr. Macquisten compared the Boards, rather to their disadvantage, to the Star Chamber and the Ogpu. They were, he believed, the creation of unemployed lawyers, and unemployed lawyers were as dangerous to the community as sharks in a bathing-pool. He drew a distinction, however, between these enemies of the public and the more fortunate members of the profession, for he later declared that lawyers (when employed) had always been the people throughout the generations who had stood for liberty. Mr. Morrison defended the marketing schemes as " industrial self-disci- pline," but later was constrained to say that he would consider the whole question of this form of procedure.
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