The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-16
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IS GROsYENoR RIGHT,

Inc call for another antitrust confer
ence at Chicago for Lincoln's birthday
will be welcomed by those who are
really in earnest in the effort to find an
effective remedy for the process of con-
centration which Is going on in all de-
partments of Industrial life No one now
seriously questions the truth that the
great bulk of the organizations which
are the outcome of the prevailing dispo-
sltlon are mere schemes to rob the public
to the excessive enrichment Of those who
are engaged IN them. Their aim is TO
beat the law of supply and demand.
When they control the supply, thew are
satlsfIed to let the demand take care of
itself This is their philosophy. That it
mas prevailed so extensively as it has in
actual operation no doubt satisfies this
class of the business community that If
is in no immediate fear of disturbance.
They will doubtless feel still more as
stirred Of their position when they have
read the declaration made by Congress-
man Grosvenor, generally regarded as
the mouthpiece of the White house who
declares that there VIII be no antitrust
legislation by this congress. The Sber-
man antitrust act meets all the REQUIRE
ments Of the case, according to Mr..
GrosvenOr, and it would be impossible to
improve on its provisions. This statement.
coming on the heels of the very positive
declarations Of the presidential message
condemning the trust combinations unre-
serYedly, is quite instructive. 1t may be
that President Mckinley. who Is much
shrewder politician than one man in a
million gives him credit for, was talking
for Buncombe county, or that Mr. Gros
venor is merely talking through his hat
The event alone viii determine which Is
the right view.
If the men in control Of legislation in
congress decide that nothing need be
done to supplement the Sherman law
they must do so in the light of facts
which have been made known to the pub
lie through the reports of the proceed
trgs of the industrial commission. In the
inaction which they enforce they must
ignore the universal demand among the
people that something more is neces-
sary on the part of federal authority than
the annulling of certain contracts which
the courts of investigation show to be
illegal and in contraventfon of the sher-
man antitrust law.
Mr. Grosvenor is right in his statement
that the law in question has been found
effective in the steel pipe case and in the
frans-Missouri rate case; but when he
declares that it meets all the require
ments necessary to the smashing of trade
combinations maintained in restraint Of
interstate commerce, he relies greatly on
public gunibility.
The coming antitrust conference will
help to sharpen the wits Of federal poll
tcians and officials like Congressman
Grosvenor, who believe that all has been
done that can or ought to be done to
allay the trust evil; and it will further
more aid in making plain to the several
state legislatures which will then he l.,
session that uniform and efficient svs-
tenn of antitrust legislation is one of the
prime prerequisites to prosecuting the
needed warfare upon these dangerous
and Illegal combinations.