388
Opinion of the Court
78th Cong., 2d Sess., 20 (1944) (hereinafter Reduction of Expenditures).
The first large-scale use of Government-controlled corporations came with the First World War. In 1917 and 1918, Congress created, among others, the United States Grain Corporation, the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, the United States Spruce Production Corporation, and the War Finance Corporation. See Leazes 20. These entities were dissolved after the war ended. See Reduction of Expenditures 1.
The Great Depression brought the next major group of Government corporations, which proved to be more enduring. These were primarily directed to stabilizing the economy and to making distress loans to farms, homeowners, banks, and other enterprises. See R. Moe, CRS Report for Congress, Administering Public Functions at the Margins of Government: The Case of Federal Corporations 6-7 (1983). The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), to take the premier example, was initially authorized to make loans to banks, insurance companies, railroads, land banks, and agricultural credit organizations, including loans secured by the assets of failed banks. See Act of Jan. 22, 1932, § 5, 47 Stat. 6-7. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), was established to hold and liquidate the assets of failed banks, and to insure bank deposits. See Act of June 16, 1933, ch. 89, § 8, 48 Stat. 168, as amended, 12 U. S. C. § 1811 et seq. (1988 ed. and Supp. V). And a few corporations, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), brought the Government into the commercial sale of goods and services. See Act of May 18, 1933, ch. 32, 48 Stat. 58, as amended, 16 U. S. C. § 831 et seq. (1988 ed. and Supp. V).
The growth of federal corporations during the Depression
and the World War II era was not limited to the numerous entities specifically approved by Congress. In 1940, Congress empowered the RFC to create corporations without specific congressional authorization. See Act of June 25,
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