'FULTON BANK
interest On
CHRISTMAS
n line
ULUDO
pays
s'll5 'll
Fulton Bank will pay 5% interest on 1974 Christmas Clubs. That's the
highest rate the law allows.
Have more money towards a merrier Christmas next year by joining a
Fulton Bank Christmas Club now. Fulton will pay you 5% average interest if
you complete all your payments. You may open a Christmas Club for as
little as $l.OO bi-weekly.
HiTONBJUK
SERVING LANCASTER AND DAUPHIN COUNTIES
MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM / F.D.I.C,
Commonwealth Court said last
week that the state attorney
general has no power or authority
to suspend a state law because he
finds it unconstitutional.
The court upheld the con
stitutionality of a bill Atty. Gen.
Israel Packel had ruled un
constitutional, creating a 17-
member committee to disburse
about $400,000 annually for
agricultural research projects.
The impetus for the legislature
to create the 17-member panel
was widespread criticism of the
research projects chosen by
Agriculture Secretary Jim
McHale.
The state’s most prominent
farm organizations said McHale
was using the $400,000 in state
harness racing revenues for
general social problems of rural
areas rather than for strict
agricultural research.
“The only branch of govern
ment that has the power to
declare a law unconstitutional is
the judiciary,” said Com
monwealth Court in an opinion by
President Judge James S.
Bowman.
“If the attorney general had
this power, he would seriously
evade and encroach upon this
Court Decision Upholds Ag Research Bill
//
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 10,1973
area judicial responsibility and
possess an effective veto over
legislation greater than that
enjoyed by the governor, which is
clearly evident under the facts of
this case.”
The legislature established the
17-member committee last year
by overriding Gov. Shapp’s veto
the first time in modern state
history that a gubernatorial veto
was over ridden.
On the eve df the committee’s
first meeting this year, Packel
issued a formal opinion that eight
of its members, representing
farm groups, had a special in
terest m how the $400,000 would
be used and could not con
stitutionally serve on the panel.
The opinion stripped the eight
farm representatives of their
membership and gave the Shapp
administration a 5-4 edge among
the remaining members.
“The Commonwealth has
argued alternatively that the
statute is unconstitutional as an
improper delegation of authority,
as a usurptation of the governor’s
power of appointment, and as
special legislation,” the court
said.
“Since we find none of these
arguments compelling, we must
J>
J
sustain the constitutionality of
the act.”
Bowman wrote that the at
torney general has the right and
duty to begin court action to get a
judicial determination on a
statute he believes to be un
constitutional.
Bowman cited only one
possible exception to the rule that
of constitutional questions must
be decided by the courts cases
where the U. S. Supreme Court
declares unconstitutional a law
identical or similar to a Penn
sylvania Statute.
The ruling gave the state 30
days to file an answer to the
complaint filed by six of the farm
representatives who were
bumped from the agricultural
research committee by Packel’s
ruling.
All six are members of the
State Council of Farm Org
anizations, headed by Burton
Hetherington, a Berwick farmer
and a persistent critic of the
Shapp administration’s
agricultural policies.
Sept. Order 4
Milk Prices
Base milk price $8.47
Excess price $7.00
Butterfat differential $ .099++
Interstate Milk Cooperative
members received a premium of
$1.76-cwt. over Order 4 Prices.
+Producers shipping to plants
located within 55 miles of
Philadelphia receive an ad
ditional .06 per hundredweight.
+ +Butterfat differential is
.099 per point above or below 3.5
percent.
The Sept, uniform price for
base milk increased ,55 cents
from the previous month. Excess
milk showed an increase of 49
cents.
In comparison to Sept, levels
one year ago, base milk was up
$1.36 and excess up $1.83.
The weighted average price for
the market was increased $1.41,
above Sept. 1972.
A total of 350 million pounds of
producer milk was pooled in Sept,
of which 66.07 percent was sold as
Class I, showing an increase of
I. percent of deliveries made in
August, and decreased .53 per
cent below Sept, a year ago. 7989
Order No. 4 producers provided
11. million pounds per day to
dealers druing Sept, averaging
1460 pounds per day per farm.
Total value of producer milk was
set at $29,075,456.94 for the
month.
ihe Old
<e*t
“People who turn the
world upside down are not
apt to be setting on top of it.”
-RUE
Soil Conditioner
MAXICROP
LIQUID PLANT
FEEDING
Vitamin & Mineral for
livestock and poultry.
Need for less protein, in
crease butterfat, cut mastitis,
increase egg production.
Zook & Ranck,
13