Whereas a Special Emergency Board was appointed by me on October 16, 1943, to consider claims for wage adjustments of non-operating railway employees, and Whereas the Economic Stabilization Director on November 4, 1943, entered an order authorizing the wage adjustments recommended by said Special Emergency Board to become effective on November 19, 1943, and Whereas the non-operating railway employees' organizations in the first instance refused to accept the recommendations of said Special Emergency Board and invoked the services of the National Mediation Board to enjoin the carriers from putting the recommendations into effect, and Whereas the non-operating railway employees' organizations on December 27, 1943, announced that they had abandoned their objections to the recommendations of said Special Emergency Board, but asserted additional claims with respect to payments for or in lieu of overtime after forty hours per week, particularly in view of the wage adjustments recently granted to railway operating employees on account of similar and other claims; and Whereas the carriers and the non-operating railway employees have not been able to reach an agreement with respect to such additional claims of the non-operating railway employees; Now, Therefore , by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes, and particularly by the First War Powers Act, 1941, the Railway Labor Act and the Stabilization Act of October 2, 1942, as President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to consider the unsettled claims for wage adjustments of the non-operating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments, if any, as should be made within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder. 2. The parties before the Special emergency Board shall be the same as those included within the recommendations of the Emergency Board appointed by me on October 16, 1943. 3. The Special Emergency Board shall report to me as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days after the date of this Order. Copies of the report shall be filed at the same time with the Economic Stabilization Director, the National War Labor Board and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The recommendations of the Special Emergency Board in regard to proposed changes affecting wage and salary payments shall become effective fifteen days after the date of the filing of its report with me, unless and except to the extent the Economic Stabilization Director otherwise directs. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, January 4, 1944.
Executive Order 9413 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 9413—Establishing a Special Emergency Board to Report on the Claims for Wage Adjustments of Non-Operating Railway Employees
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (442 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to consider the unsettled claims for wage adjustments of the non-operating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments, if any, as should be made within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder. 2.
⚖️ 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 Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 January 4, 1944, this order concerns Establishing a Special Emergency Board to Report on the Claims for Wage Adjustments of Non-Operating Railway Employees. There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to consider the unsettled claims for wage adjustments of the non-operating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments, if any, as should be made within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder. 2.
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
▪
There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to consider the unsettled claims for wage adjustments of the non-operating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments, if any, as should be made within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder. 2.
▪
The parties before the Special emergency Board shall be the same as those included within the recommendations of the Emergency Board appointed by me on October 16, 1943. 3.
▪
The Special Emergency Board shall report to me as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days after the date of this Order.
▪
Copies of the report shall be filed at the same time with the Economic Stabilization Director, the National War Labor Board and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
Policy Areas & Topics
🏛️
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating 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
45 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Moderate Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.
Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
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
442
2,786 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
30.1
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt around this period.
EO 9412 Dec 27, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9412—Possession and Operation of Railroads
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Possession and control of all common carriers by railroad, express companies, terminal companies and associations, sleeping, parlor, and railroad-owned or controlled private car companies (all hereinafter referred to as carriers) located in the continental United States…
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EO 9414 Jan 13, 1944
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9414—Regulations Relating to Annual and Sick Leave of Government Employees
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the granting of Annual and Sick leave to civilian officers and employees of the United States, the District of Columbia, and all corporations included within the provisions of the said acts of March 14, 1936, except as…
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EO 9411 Dec 23, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9411—Prescribing Rates for Hospitalization and Medical Care of Dependents of Naval Personnel and Others
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
The per diem rate for the hospitalization of dependents of naval and Marine Corps personnel shall be $1.75. 2. The rates for hospitalization or dispensary services outside of the continental limits of the United States and in Alaska for persons other than dependents of naval…
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 1m
EO 9410 Dec 23, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9410—Delegation of Certain Functions of the President to the Director of Selective Service
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Paragraphs 2 (a), 2 (b), and 2 (c) of Executive Order No. 9279 of December 5, 1942 are hereby revoked: and the Selective Service System shall hereafter be a separate agency which shall be administered under the supervision and direction of the Director of Selective Service…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 9409 Dec 23, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9409—Altering the Composition of the War Manpower Commission
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Paragraph 1 of Executive Order No. 9139 of April 18, 1942 is hereby amended to read as follows: "1. There is established within the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President a War Manpower Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 9415 Jan 20, 1944
⚖️⚠️ Zone 3 (Lowest Ebb) Friction (-0.19)
Executive Order 9415—Transfer of Certain Personnel From the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the War Department
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief / War Prerogative Tension
The following-named commissioned officers are hereby transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the service and jurisdiction of the War Department: Lieutenant Commander Charles A. Schanck Lieutenant Chester J. Beyma Lieutenant Charles F. Chenworth Lieutenant William F.…
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9413 (Jan. 4, 1944), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9413-establishing-special-emergency-board-report-the-claims-for-wage.
