★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
Cite
Executive Order 7154 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 7154—Creating the Camden Board of Arbitration

•
Thursday, August 22, 1935
•
4 min read (768 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (768 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The parties to the labor dispute at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, having been unable to reach a mutual agreement with respect to matters in dispute between them, there is hereby created "The Camden Board of Arbitration" which shall be composed of Rear Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired, Chairman; Robert Bruere of New York City; and Colonel Frank P. Douglass of Oklahoma City.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 22, 1935, this order concerns Creating the Camden Board of Arbitration. The parties to the labor dispute at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, having been unable to reach a mutual agreement with respect to matters in dispute between them, there is hereby created "The Camden Board of Arbitration" which shall be composed of Rear Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired, Chairman; Robert Bruere of New York City; and Colonel Frank P. Douglass…

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪

The parties to the labor dispute at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, having been unable to reach a mutual agreement with respect to matters in dispute between them, there is hereby created "The Camden Board of Arbitration" which shall be composed of Rear Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired, Chairman; Robert Bruere of New York City; and Colonel Frank P. Douglass of Oklahoma City.

▪

Each member of the Board shall receive necessary travel and subsistence expenses, and in addition thereto, each member who at the time he is serving on the Board is not receiving any other salary from the United States, shall receive $25 per diem.

▪

The Board shall proceed immediately to investigate, hear evidence, and make findings of fact with a view to formulating, within sixty days, arbitration awards with respect to the following issues in controversy: (1) The matter of piece work or of incentive work; (2) The matter of adjustment of wages; (3) Matters relating to employment and working conditions which have been in dispute in connection with the renewal of the agreement, between the parties, of May 11, 1934; and (4) Miscellaneous questions which have been the source of dispute in connection with the recent stoppage of work at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation Provided that , the Board, notwithstanding generality of the foregoing language…

▪

In order that it may make its awards, the Board ( a ) Shall request the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and Local No. 1 of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, to file with the Board, not later than noon, Tuesday, August 27, 1935, their separate written agreements to abide by the awards of the Board, and to embody them in an agreement, to be signed by the parties, to continue until the completion of the existing naval contracts.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏛️

The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§

"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)

Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
📐

Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
53 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
ℹ️
How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
768
4,518 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.7
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (5 sections)

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me, under Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act, of June 16, 1933 [48 Stat. 195], as amended by the Act of June14, 1935 [Public Resolution No. 26, 74th Congress], and other provisions of law, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

The parties to the labor dispute at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, having been unable to reach a mutual agreement with respect to matters in dispute between them, there is hereby created "The Camden Board of Arbitration" which shall be composed of Rear Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired, Chairman; Robert Bruere of New York City; and Colonel Frank P. Douglass of Oklahoma City. Each member of the Board shall receive necessary travel and subsistence expenses, and in addition thereto, each member who at the time he is serving on the Board is not receiving any other salary from the United States, shall receive $25 per diem.

Section 2. #sec-2

The Board shall proceed immediately to investigate, hear evidence, and make findings of fact with a view to formulating, within sixty days, arbitration awards with respect to the following issues in controversy: (1) The matter of piece work or of incentive work; (2) The matter of adjustment of wages; (3) Matters relating to employment and working conditions which have been in dispute in connection with the renewal of the agreement, between the parties, of May 11, 1934; and (4) Miscellaneous questions which have been the source of dispute in connection with the recent stoppage of work at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation Provided that , the Board, notwithstanding generality of the foregoing language, shall not entertain any request by Local No. 1 of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, for a preferential or closed shop, but in lieu thereof shall include in its award a provision that the New York Shipbuilding Corporation will not fill any vacant or new positions with other persons so long as employees who have been employed since August 1, 1933, are available, are competent, and willing to accept the same positions.

Section 3. #sec-3

In order that it may make its awards, the Board ( a ) Shall request the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and Local No. 1 of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, to file with the Board, not later than noon, Tuesday, August 27, 1935, their separate written agreements to abide by the awards of the Board, and to embody them in an agreement, to be signed by the parties, to continue until the completion of the existing naval contracts. ( b ) Shall request that the New York Shipbuilding Corporation file with it not later than noon, Tuesday, August 27, 1935, a signed agreement that all of the employees upon the payroll on 11 May, 1935, will, upon their application, be taken back without discrimination and under the same hours, wages and working conditions as prevailed when the strike commenced, and that the corporation will, pending a new agreement with the employees, operate the plant in every respect in accordance with the provisions of the expired agreement of 11 May 1934, except that while the Camden Board of Arbitration is in existence, questions which are not settled by the employees, stewards, foremen, general manager, or vice-president, as provided in Section 3 of said agreement of May 11, 1934, shall be referred for arbitration to said Camden Board of Arbitration, and during such time no other Board such as is contemplated in Section 4 of said agreement of May 11, 1934, shall be created, or shall arbitrate such questions. ( c ) Shall request that Local No. 1, Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, file with it not later than noon, Tuesday, August 27, 1935, a signed agreement immediately to terminate the strike now in existence. Provided that no agreement requested by the Board in accordance with paragraphs ( a ), ( b ) or ( c ) above shall be effective or binding, unless all such requested agreements are filed.

Section 4. #sec-4

The Board shall transmit copies of its findings and such awards as it formulates to the President and to the parties to the dispute.

Section 5. #sec-5

In order to effectuate the purposes of this Order, there is hereby allotted to the Board the sum of $2,500 from the funds appropriated to carry out the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, August 22, 1935

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 7154 (Aug. 22, 1935), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7154-creating-the-camden-board-arbitration.