Opinion of the Court.

362 U.S.

erty, as well as "transfer of legal title." The statute goes on to provide for certain payments in lieu of taxes where such a transfer occurs. The relevance of this statute lies in a congressional sanction of the rule of the Sedgwick County case, construing the waiver provision.

We cannot say that Congress in 1932 intended to waive the tax exemption on "real property of the Corporation" after the Corporation found the property surplus to its needs and responsibilities and transferred it to another agency, for management and disposition as United States property. To say that the Government's land remained taxable merely because no formal deed was executed transferring title, either to itself or any of its designated agencies, would but make a local tollgate of a technicality.

Nor can we agree that the short administrative practice claimed here continued the waiver in effect. Even if the responsible agency had permitted the paper title to the Government's property to remain in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for the sole purpose of allowing it to be taxed, the congressional mandate in the Surplus Property Act of 1944 could not be overridden. As to such matters, any adjustments between the federal and the local governments are strictly legislative ones for the Congress, United States v. City of Detroit, 355 U. S. 466, 474 (1958), and not within the discretion of the executive agencies.

The judgment is therefore reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. Reversed and remanded.

MR. JUSTICE BLACK and MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS dissent.

362 U.S.

May 23, 1960.

WILLIAMS v. LAVALLEE, WARDEN.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT.

SIMS MOTOR TRANSPORT LINES, INC.,

v. UNITED STATES ET AL.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS.

THE

No. 823. Decided May 23, 1960.

183 F. Supp. 113, affirmed.

Harold T. Halfpenny and Mary Shaw for appellant.

Solicitor General Rankin, Acting Assistant Attorney General Bicks, Richard A. Solomon, Henry Geller and Robert W. Ginnane for the United States and the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Roland Rice and Franklin R. Overmyer for Holland Motor Express, Inc., et al.

PER CURIAM.

The motions of Holland Motor Express, Inc., et al., for leave to be named parties appellee and for leave to file a motion to affirm are granted. The motions to affirm are granted and the judgment is affirmed.

REPORTER'S NOTE.

The next page is purposely numbered 901. The numbers between 637 and 901 were purposely omitted, in order to make it possible to publish the orders in the current advance sheets or "preliminary prints" of the United States Reports with permanent page numbers, thus making the official citations available immediately.