Dick Lugar: “Mr. President, this may not be a definitive situation, but this Senator simply notes that all 50 States of the Union…”

“Mr. President, this may not be a definitive situation, but this Senator simply notes that all 50 States of the Union have adopted contract arbitration statutes that allow a provision to be placed in a written contract. I have no idea if the occupant of the chair would have a better idea from his experience as Governor of our State as to how legislatures have dealt with this problem. But it is interesting that all 50 have, and we are on the threshold of displacing whatever judgments might have occurred in those situations. I think this is something that many Senators do not approach without some thought as to why such contract clauses may have been made an option. I appreciate the point of the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin that he believes, as a practical matter, farmers or ranchers dealing in these contracts have no choice; that in order to sign up at least in something that appears to be favorable, because they really would not move in that direction otherwise, they must, of necessity, accept an arbitration clause. Perhaps that is so but not necessarily.”