LEIBELL, District Judge.
The question to be decided on this appeal concerns the power of the Federal Trade Commission under Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 49, to subpoena documents and records of third parties “In the Matter of A. G. Spalding & Bros. Inc.,” a corporation against which the Commission had filed a complaint, charging it with a violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, T. 15 U.S.C. § 18.1 The District Court denied an application by the Commission for an order enforcing a [607]*607subpoena duces tecum, to compel Ernst & Ernst, the accountants for the Athletic Goods Manufacturers Association, to produce records of members of the Association in the possession of the accountants, and their own records relating thereto.
On December 8, 1955, the Commission issued a complaint against A. G. Spald-ing & Bros. Inc. charging it with a violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act in that the Spalding corporation, one of the four largest manufacturers and distributors of athletic goods in the United States, had acquired on or about December 6, 1955, all of the outstanding capital stock of the Rawlings Manufacturing Company, which was also one of the four largest in that field. The complaint further charged, in some detail, that by the acquisition of the Rawlings stock, Spalding had eliminated a large competitor, and that the acquisition of the stock would have the effect of substantially lessening competition or tending to create a monopoly in the manufacture and distribution of athletic goods
In the course of the hearing, which an examiner of the Federal Trade Commission conducted in relation to the charges contained in the complaint, a subpoena duces tecum was served upon W. W. Tuttle of the accounting firm of Ernst & Ernst. The accounting firm, under an arrangement made with the Athletic Goods Manufacturers Association, prepared annually so-called “Census Reports” for the Association, based on information the accounting firm received from the Association’s members in the form of statistical data and memoranda. Under its arrangement with the Association’s members, Ernst & Ernst were to keep in strictest confidence the data thus received and the data was to be destroyed as soon as it had served the accountants’ purpose in the preparation of the annual census report. The accountants had been preparing these reports for the Association since 1949. The reports set forth the sales in units and dollars of various categories and types of athletic equipment.
By a subpoena dated February 24, 1956, signed by the Federal Trade Commission Hearing Examiner and addressed to W. W. Tuttle, a partner and resident manager of Ernst & Ernst, at Boston, Mr. Tuttle was required to appear and testify at a hearing before the Examiner to be held in the United States Courthouse in New York City on April 30, 1956, in the “Matter of A. G. Spald-ing & Bros. Inc.”; and to bring with him the following books, papers and documents :
“1. Such books, records and documents as will disclose all correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, statistics, work papers, bulletins, census and reports prepared, transmitted or received by Ernst and Ernst, its officers, agents, employees, boards, council, committee or member thereof for the past four years, in the possession or control of Ernst and Ernst and relate to census reports prepared for the Athletic Goods Manufacturing Association.”
Ernst & Ernst only partially complied with the subpoena duces tecum. They produced the “census reports” and also, with the permission of the two corporations, so much of the data as the accounting firm had received from A. G. Spald-ing Bros, and Rawlings Manufacturing Company, for the years 1954 and 1955. Information as to individual companies for the years prior to 1954 had been destroyed before the institution of the Commission’s proceedings against Spalding. But Ernst & Ernst did not produce any of the data and information they had received from the other individual companies who were members of the Association for the years 1954 and 1955, or their own records.
The Federal Trade Commission on May 17, 1956, filed a petition in the United States District Court, Southern District, of New York, for an order compelling Mr. Tuttle, resident manager of Ernst & Ernst, to fully comply with the requirements of the subpoena duces tecum. The jurisdiction of the District Court to hear and consider the petition is derived from [608]*608the third unnumbered paragraph of Section 9 of the Federal' Trade Commission Act.2
Mr. Tuttle filed an answer to the petition and set up three special defenses:
(1) That under Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act the petitioner, the Commission, does not have the power or authority to obtain by subpoena duces tecum documentary evidence of any corporation not being investigated or proceeded against, and that therefore the Commission cannot obtain by subpoena from Ernst & Ernst the reports of individual companies other than Spalding and Rawlings; and that the Court does not have the power to order the Respondent Tuttle, or Ernst & Ernst, to [609]*609produce the reports of those other companies.
(2) That Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act if it grants the Commission that power of subpoena violates the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, in that the Commission would be taking part of the business of Ernst & Ernst which it conducts as accountants for this Association and other similar groups, and would deprive Ernst & Ernst of a valuable business, without due process of law.
(3) That in view of the hardship it would impose on Ernst & Ernst if they are required to disclose this confidential information, which they assert is merely hearsay and not competent proof in the Spalding matter, enforcement of the subpoena would violate Section 6(c) of the Federal Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 1005(c), as being unreasonable and oppressive and therefore not “in accordance with law.”
The District Judge concluded “that the plain words of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act do not authorize the issuance of this subpoena.” He held that the Commission’s power of subpoena under Section 9 was limited to the production of any documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated or proceeded against; that the respondent (Mr. Tuttle as Resident Manager of Ernst & Ernst) is neither being investigated nor proceeded against (nor are the so-called other companies); and that “the subpoena is unauthorized and the application (of the Commission to enforce the subpoena) is denied.”
The Commission on this appeal contends (1) that the District Court erred in its construction of the subpoena clause in Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act; (2) and that although the Court did not reach other objections to the subpoena raised by respondent, they are without merit and the subpoena should be enforced.
The respondent-appellee in addition to the contentions asserted in the special defenses set forth in their answer, argue that the Commission has no authority to issue a subpoena duces tecum in a proceeding brought by it to enforce the Clayton Act.
Before taking up the main issue presented by this appeal, the construction of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, the collateral issues will be considered.
Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act is not unconstitutional if its provisions permit the service of the subpoena duces tecum in this case. The petitioner is seeking the production by the respondent of 150 reports which were furnished by members of the Athletic Goods Manufacturers Association to Ernst & Ernst to enable it to prepare the annual “census report” for the industry. The 150 reports are not “privileged” or confidential communications. The data sought is relevant to the issues that will arise under the allegations of the complaint which the Commission has filed against Spalding, as a reading of the complaint will show. The “reports” have a bearing on the competitive relationship of the members of the Association and will serve to establish the extent of the market control that may have resulted from Spalding’s purchase of the Rawlings stock. For those reasons also the subpoena does not violate the Federal Administrative Procedure Act, § 6(c) in illation to subpoenas.3 The subpoena is not unreasonable in its scope, nor in any way oppressive, and it is in accordance with law, if the Commission had the power under Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, to issue the subpoena.
The use of the subpoena would not be unconstitutional even if it indirectly had an adverse effect on a certain part of Ernst & Ernst’s accounting business. The public interest to be served is superior. If the Association and similar groups wish to have the “census reports” prepared annually, accountants from convenient offices of Ernst & Ernst (they [610]*610have 60 offices in the United States) could examine the necessary data at the offices of the Association’s members. There apr pears to be no reasonable basis for respondent’s contention that either the petitioner or-the Unitefi • States, of which it is an Agency, is taking respondent’s property without due process of law.
Defendant’s contention that the Federal Trade Commission does not have the power to issue subpoenas in a proceeding under the Clayton Act, overlooks the fact that' both the Clayton Act and Federal -Trade Commission Act were under consideration by the Congress at the same time;4 that the Congressional debates show that investigations under the Clayton Act were to be conducted by the Commission;5 that the Commission is mentioned in Sections 2, 7 and 11 of the Clayton Act; and that under Section 11 of the Clayton Act, § 21 of T. 15 U.S.C.A., the Federal Trade Commission is authorized to enforce compliance with Section 7 of the Clayton Act, § 18 of T. 15 U.S.C.A. Likewise the Commission was'granted the power under Section 1 of the Robinson-Patman Act, § 13 of T. 15 U.S.C.A. to investigate and institute proceedings to enforce the provisions of the Robinson-Patman Act. The Supreme Court has held that the Commission possesses “broad power of investigation and subpoena” which it may use prior to the filing of a complaint for price discrimination, a violation of the Robinson-Patman Act. Automatic Canteen Co. v. F. T. C., 346 U.S. 61, 79, 73 S.Ct. 1017, 1027, 97 L.Ed. 1454. The subpoena power necessary for that purpose is found in Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The Robinson-Patman Act contained no subpoena powers.
An adequate subpoena power is essential to any investigation of offenses under •the Clayton Act6 and to the enforcement of Section 7 of that Act. The Congress evidently concluded that it was unnecessary to incorporate the full subpoena power in both Acts and was content to set it forth in Section 9 of the Federal Trade .Commission Act.7 The Congress followed a similar course in later anti-monopoly and unfair trade-practices Acts,8 relating [611]*611to certain specific industries or markets, and it did not in those Acts set forth the subpoena powers required for the investigations to be conducted by the Commission.
The main issue on this appeal is the scope of the subpoena power given the Federal Trade Commission in Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The argument of respondent on that point is that the subpoena power is limited to documents and records of the corporation being investigated or proceeded against, which in this case would be the Spalding corporation and possibly the Rawlings corporation. Respondents stress the use of the word “such” in the first sentence of Section 9, which states:
“Sec. 9. That for the purposes of this Act the commission, or its duly authorized agent or agents, shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated or proceeded against; and the commission shall have power to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all such documentary evidence relating to any matter under investigation.”
The word “ 'such’ is a rather slippery word” as Judge Dobie remarked in United States v. Legg, 4 Cir., 157 F.2d 990, 992. Some of its many meanings, depending upon its context, are discussed in 83 C.J.S. p. 771. As a rule it is used to refer to an antecedent. The respondent argues that its antecedent in the first sentence of Section 9 is “documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated or proceeded against.” That contention might appear to be reasonable if we read only the language of the first sentence of Section 9 disregarding the other provisions of Section 9; the purpose and policy of the Federal Trade Commission Act; its legislative history; the Congressional intent; and the effect, of respondent-appellee’s construction of Section 9, if adopted, upon the Commission’s functioning under the Act. “There is sufficient ambiguity here to permit consideration of relevant legislative history.” Mastro Plastics Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, 350 U.S. 270, 287, 76 S.Ct. 349, 360, 100 L.Ed. 309. In that case the Court ruled on “a narrowly literal construction of the words” of Section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(d), as the court observed in National Labor Relations Board v. Lion Oil Co., 352 U.S. 282, 288, 77 S.Ct. 330, 334, 1 L.Ed.2d 331.
The Federal Trade Commission Act was the work of the 63rd Congress, 2nd Session. In April 1914, a bill known as H. R. 15613 was introduced in the House of Representatives and was referred to its Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. It was passed by the House on June 5, 1914. On June 13, 1914, the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, to which H. R. 15613 had been referred, reported as a substitute Senate Bill No. 4160 which had been reported favorably to the Senate on June 6th. The Senate and House bills went to conference and a conference bill emerged. The House conference report is No. 1142 and is dated September 4, 1914. The conference bill was passsed by the Congress September 26, 1914, and as passed contained Section 9 in its present form.
H. R. 15613, in the Second paragraph of Section 10, provided:
“For the purpose of prosecuting any investigation or proceeding authorized by this section the commission, or its duly authorized agent or agents, shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated or proceeded against.”
[612]*612And in Section 16 provided:
“Sec. 16. That for the purposes of this Act, and in aid of its powers of investigation herein granted, the commission shall have and exercise the same powers conferred upon the Interstate Commerce Commission in the Acts to regulate commerce to subpoena and compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence and to administer oaths.”
Senate Bill 4160 provided, in the second paragraph of Section 3(g):
“For the purpose of prosecuting any investigation or proceeding authorized by this section the commission, or its duly authorized agent or agents, shall at all reasonable times have access to, for the purpose of examination, and the right to copy any documents or writings of any corporation being investigated or proceeded against.”
And in Section 8 provided:
“Sec. 8. The commission shall have and exercise the powers possessed by the Interstate Commerce Commission to subpoena and compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence, and to administer oaths.”
From the above it appears that the second paragraph of Section 10 of H. R. 15613 and the second paragraph of Section 3(g) of Senate Bill 4160 are almost identical. The words “any documentary evidence” appear in the House Bill and the words “and documents or writings” in the Senate Bill.
The substance of Section 16 of the House Bill is the same as Section 8 of the Senate Bill.
When it came to drafting Section 9 of the conference bill (which became the Federal Trade Commission Act), the language of Section 10 of the House Bill was followed in the first half of the first sentence of Section 9 of the Act, and then recourse was had to the Interstate Commerce Act, Section 12, for the second half of the first sentence of Section 9 of the Act. The conference committee decided to have the Federal Trade Commission Act contain its own subpoena powers, without reference to the Interstate Commerce Commission Act.
The last part of Section 12 of the Interstate Commerce Act, T. 49 U.S.C.A. § 12, states:
“ * * * the commission shall have power to require, by subpoena, the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, papers, tariffs, contracts, agreements, and documents relating to any matter under investigation.”
Compare this with the last part of the first sentence of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act which provides:
“ * * * the commission shall have power to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all such documentary evidence relating to any matter under investigation.”
What the draftsman did in incorporating the subpoena provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act into the conference bill, which became the Federal Trade Commission Act, was to substitute the words “Such documentary evidence,” for the words “books, papers, tariffs, contracts, agreements, and documents” of the Interstate Commerce Act. But by moving the subpoena provision from its place in Section 16 of the House Bill, No. 15613, to a position in the conference bill where it would immediately follow Section 10 of the House bill, relating to the Commission’s right of access to “any documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated or proceeded against,” the draftsman introduced the word “such” which has given rise to the main issue on this appeal. The word “such” was placed in a position where it might be argued, as the respondents do here, that the word “such documentary evidence” in the second half of the first sentence of Section 9 of the Act were subject to the limitation that it must be the “documentary evidence of any corporation being investigated or proceeded [613]*613against,” mentioned in the first half of that sentence.
The draftsman of the conference bill that became the Federal Trade Commission Act took the first sentence of paragraph 2 of Section 12 of the Interstate Commerce Act (without change) and made it the first sentence of the second paragraph of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, so that it reads: “Such attendance of witnesses, and the production of such documentary evidence, may be required from any place in the United States, at any designated place of hearing.” In the Interstate Commerce Act the words “such documentary evidence” refer to “all books, papers, tariffs, contracts, agreements, and documents.” Section 12 of the Interstate Commerce Act is also the source of other provisions of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, including those relating to recourse to the District Court to enforce the Commission’s subpoenas and the taking of testimony by deposition.
Respondent’s narrow construction of the first sentence of the first paragraph of Section 9 is in direct conflict with the broad provisions of the fifth paragraph of that section, relating to the taking of testimony by deposition “in any proceeding or investigation pending under this Act.” The word “such” is not used in relation to “documentary evidence” in any part of the fifth paragraph. That paragraph contains no limitation on the origin of the “documentary evidence”; and any person “may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the commission as hereinbefore provided.” The compulsion would be supplied by an order of the District Court in the manner provided in the third paragraph of Section 9. If respondent’s construction of the first sentence of Section 9 were correct, the result would be incongruous. A witness subpoenaed to produce documents at a hearing before an Examiner, could not be compelled to produce documents of persons other than the corporation under investigation; but if the testimony of the witness was being taken by deposition he could be compelled to produce the documents.
A provision appearing in the last paragraph of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act grants to natural persons testifying' or producing documentary evidence under subpoena, immunity from prosecution or penalty or forfeiture “for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he may testify, or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, before the commission in obedience to a subpoena issued by it: Provided, That no natural person so testifying shall be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.”
A natural person does not have the protection of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution in respect to books and papers of a corporation which are in his physical possession, even though they contain matters which might tend to incriminate him. [Wilson v. United States, 221 U.S. 361, 31 S.Ct. 538, 55 L.Ed. 771.] The inference is warranted that the “immunity” provision was made part of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, in order that the Commission might compel the production of books and papers belonging to natural persons, or to partnerships being examined through a resident partner (Ernst & Ernst through Mr. Tuttle). That conclusion negatives the idea that the subpoena power of the Commission under Section 9 is limited to documents of a corporation under investigation or being proceeded against.
The limited construction of the word “such,” contended for by the respondents, would also result in this anomalous situation — that oral testimony could be elicited by the Commission in examining a witness under subpoena, concerning transactions reported in the books and records of the individual or partnership, but the books and records themselves could not be subpoenaed.
If the power of the Commission to subpoena records is limited to records of [614]*614corporations being investigated' of proceeded against, and if there is no right to subpoena records of individuals or partnerships under Section 9 of the Act, how could the Commission fulfill its duties under Section 5 of the Act, relating to “unfair methods of competition,” which specifically includes violations by a “person, partnership or corporation”? § 45 of T. 15 U.S.C.A. This is further evidence of the destructive effect which the construction the respondents herein place upon the word “such,” in the first sentence of Section 9 of the Act, would have upon the proper functioning of the Commission.
Further, if the second half of the first sentence of Section 9 limits the subpoena power of the Commission to documents of the corporation under investigation, to which the Commission is given'access and the right to make copies under the first half of the sentence, of what use is the grant of the power of subpoena? The Commission could get all the information it wanted from the corporation under the access and copying power. Respondent’s construction of the language granting the subpoena power, would in effect render the subpoena power useless — an absurd result never contemplated by the Congress.
As the Supreme Court has repeated several times: “ ‘In expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy.’” United States v. Boisdore's Heirs, 8 How. 113, 121, 12 L.Ed. 1009, quoted in Mastro Plastics Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, 350 U.S. 270, 285, 76 S.Ct. 349, 359, and in National Labor Relations Board v. Lion Oil Co., 352 U.S. 282, 77 S.Ct. 330. To the same effect, see United States v. American Trucking Ass'ns, 310 U.S. 534, 542 and 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 84 L.Ed. 1345.
Finally, the respondent’s narrow construction of the words “such documentary evidence” as used in the 'first paragraph of Section 9 of the Act would impair the proper functioning of the Commission. The accounting firm, having in its possession data supplied by third parties “relating to any matter under investigation” by the Commission, would be immune from subpoena for the production of the data, and the third parties themselves would likewise be immune. The Commission would be limited to the documentary evidence of the corporation being investigated, even though the investigation concerned the effect of the monopolistic acquisitions or unfair competitive practices of that corporation on others in the industry. Proof of the extent of the monopolistic trend of acquisitions by a corporation and their effect on the industry might well be found in the records of other corporations in the same industry. Without those records the Commission might fail to establish important allegations of its complaint.
It was clearly the purpose of the Congress that the Commission should have adequate subpoena power to perform its duties. In reporting H.R. 15613 the House Committee stated (House Report 533):
“In order that the Commission may have ample power of subpoena and production of books and papers the language of section 16 of the bill has been expressly made broad enough to permit a full exercise of that power in connection with any kind of investigation which may be undertaken.”
The report of the Senate Committee (Senate Report No. 597) on the House bill as redrafted by the Senate, stated:
“ * * * it is indispensable that it (the Commission) should have extensive power of inquiry, with the right to subpoena witnesses and to require the production of books and papers. The powers which, according to this bill are granted to the commission, are practically the same as those now granted to the Inter[615]*615state Commerce Commission or the Bureau of Corporations * * * ”.9
In a report on the Conference Bill (Report No. 1142) made to the House on September 14, 1914, it was stated that in the Conference Bill “the administrative process for conducting investigations, summoning witnesses and punishing violations is substantially as in the House bill,” i. e., the same as the power possessed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
A correct interpretation of the long first sentence of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act should recognize the fact that it grants two separate powers to the Commission, and that the language granting those distinct powers is separated by a semi-colon. The first grants the right of access to and the right to copy any documentary evidence of the corporation being investigated or proceeded against. The second grants a subpoena power for the production of documentary evidence relating to any matter under investigation.
In the second half of the first sentence of Section 9 the words “the production of all such documentary evidence relating to any matter under investigation” should be construed to mean “the production of all documentary evidence relating to any matter under investigation,” thus eliminating the word “such.” That will comply with the policy and purposes of the Act itself.
The policy of the Act must be considered, and its purposes, in construing the powers given the Commission to function under the Act. Even if the plain meaning of the wording of a statute is apparent, the Supreme Court will not apply that meaning if that would lead to “absurd or futile results.” The Court “has looked beyond the words to the purpose of the act.” And frequently, when the plain meaning produces “merely an unreasonable [result which is] ‘plainly at variance with the policy of the legist lation as a whole’ ” the Supreme Court “has followed that purpose, rather than the literal words.” United States v. American Trucking Ass'ns, 310 U.S. 534, on page 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, on page 1064, and cases cited.
In the case of Federal Trade Commission v. Bowman, D.C., 149 F.Supp. 624, 627, decided by Judge Hoffman on February 15, 1957, the Federal Trade Commission had filed in the District Court, Northern District of Illinois, a petition for the enforcement of a subpoena duces tecum directing Wilson & Co. to produce certain records, in this same proceeding of Federal Trade Commission v. A. G. Spalding & Bros. Inc. In resisting the effort of the Federal Trade Commission to compel the production of the Wilson Company’s records under subpoena in the “proceeding” against Spalding, the Wilson Company made the same contention advanced by the respondent in the case at bar, namely that the word “such” as used in the second half of the first sentence of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, relates only to the records of a corporation being investigated or proceeded against. Judge Hoffman’s opinion states:
“It is unnecessary to decide whether the defendant’s interpretation attaches more significance to the word ‘such’ than it can reasonably be made to bear. The argument fails upon another ground. Conceding that the Wilson company is not being ‘proceeded against’ within the meaning of the quoted portion of Section 9, the question remains whether the company is ‘being investigated’ as< that term is used in the Act. Section 6 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C.A. § 46 * * *"
[616]*616Judge Hoffman held that the Wilson company could be termed a corporation “being investigated.”
Without expressing any opinion on the applicability of Section 6 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (relating to investigations by the Commission) to the records of a corporation whose officer is to be examined as a witness in a “proceeding” against another corporation, we conclude that the Bowman case is not a precedent contra to the construction we have given to the first sentence of Section 9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
Section 6(f) of the Federal Trade Commission Act gives the Commission the power
“(f) To make public from time to • time such portions of the information obtained by it hereunder, except trade secrets and names of customers, as it shall deem expedient in the public interest; and to make annual and special reports to the Congress and to submit therewith recommendations for additional legislation ; and to provide for the publication of its reports and decisions in such form and manner as may be best adapted for public information and use.”
The respondents contend that the information sought by the Commission under the subpoena in the case at bar would include the sales records of the individual companies and that those records may be propei’ly classsified as “trade secrets.” Assuming, arguendo, that sales records of the individual companies are trade secrets under Section 6(f), all that that section forbids is the publication of “trade secrets and names of customers,” in public reports that the Commission may make “from time to time” which it “shall deem expedient in the public interest.” That does not mean that “trade secrets and names of customers” may not be subpoenaed by the Commission in any proceeding or investigation under the Act. They may be subpoenaed in litigation in the Federal Courts, if the information is relevant and necessary to the presentation of a case. 4 Moore, Federal Practice, § 26.22 p. 1087.
The Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act have been in effect since 1914. The Commission has consistently followed the subpoena practice that is here challenged. Only within the last two years has the legality of that practice been questioned. An “administrative practice does not avail to overcome a statute so plain in its commands as to leave nothing for construction”; but an “administrative practice, consistent and generally unchallenged, will not be overturned except for very cogent reasons if the scope of the command is indefinite and doubtful.” Judge Cardozo in Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States, 288 U.S. 294, 315, 53 S.Ct. 350, 358, 77 L.Ed. 796. And “Courts are slow to disturb the settled administrative construction of a statute long and consistently adhered to” especially where “the declared will of the legislative body could not be carried out without the construction adopted.” (Mr. Justice Stone in Alaska Steamship Co. v. United States, 290 U.S. 256, 262, 54 S.Ct. 159, 161, 78 L.Ed. 302.
For the reasons stated in this opinion, the order of the District Court is reversed and the mandate will direct that the District Court enter an order compelling the respondent to comply with the subpoena duces tecum, at a time and place to be fixed by the Court.