The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-10
RESTRAINT OF TRUSTS

The second part of the report of the in
dustrial commission, just made public, re-
lates to the control and regulation of the
business of trusts to prevent them from
driving out competition, through COM
bination, on the principle of community of
interest and price cutting. The commits
sion.e in its first report. advised the ut
most publicity to he given the details Of
the business Of Industrial corporations
and that misleading circulars, intended to
attract purchasers to their securities,
should be dealt with as fraudulent.
1t is now recommended that the federal
law officers be directed to proceed against
violations of the antitrust law, and that
congress and the states enact stringent
legislation against determinations be-
tween Gust omers and local price cutting,
any aggrieved individual being authorized
to sue for damages, while the states are
to- enact laws to prevent stock watering
and assume supervision of all public serv-
Ice corporations; impose an annual fran
chise tax on gross earnings of corpora
lions engaged in Interstate commerce, at
a low minimum, to be increased with in
creased earnings. The report recommends
a permanent treasury bureau to register
state corporations engaged in interstate
and foreign commerce, and enforce pen
alties against delinquents and publish all
obtainable information about the COM
binations. An important Recommended
ton is that the department of commerce
shall observe industrial progress and sug-
gest tariff notifications and reciprocal
legislation to meet changing conditions of
trade at home and abroad. It is advised
that commission be appointed to study
this whole subject
Some of these recommendations are
very good. It may be recalled, however,
that many states have passed various and
sundry laws against corporate greed, but
they have not succeeded in checking it
where corporate hunger exists. Indeed.
as has been admitted by the Interstate
commerce commission, the federal law of
1887, enacted to prevent unjust discrim-
inatton, by public carriers, is not, in its
present form, able to prevent the most
riotous defiance of the law,s The states
actments, for in 1899 they passed sixteen
such laws of a stringent character and
last year, only four laws Of the kind were
enacted. So far as the railway car
r1ers are concerned, there are three bills
before congress amendatory of the inter-
state commerce law, which require wide
publicity of their books and papers and
cret rate-cutting and unjust discrimina-
tions generally and give the federal cir
cult courts authority to enforce the penal
ties. One of the bills authorizes pooling
under government supervision. Another
authorizes the fixing of rates by the COM
ties interested. The arbitrary fixing of
rates by the commission is feature of
questionable propriety. The industrial
commissions recommendation of perma-
nent bureau of the treasury department to
register state corporations doing inter-
state or foreign commerce and enforce
penalties against violators Of the law,
is su0erfuous, for the Interstate
commerce commission. with the fed
eral courts back Of it to enforce its or
ders, as proposed, can perform the same
service. It is singular, in this connec-
tion. that Senator Nelson did not include
the interstate commerce commission in
his bill providing for a department Of
commerce. That is just where the COM
mission belongs.
The commeadation by the industrial
commission that a function of the de-
partment of commerce shall be to adjust
our tariff to meet the requirements of
our trade and to suggest to congress
where reciprocity treaties will be most
useful in the expansion Of our trade, is
the most sensible suggestion in the re-
port. permanent tariff bureau of the
department of commerce to deal with the
tariff as a business matter exclusively, is
what is greatly needed. It is as conducive
to the national welfare to take the tariff
out Of politics as it Is to take the money
and currency question out of politics.
Both are purely business matters.
A national law to prevent corporate ex-
cesses and injustices Is better than forty
five state laws to secure the desired re-
suit. Any study of the variant state
laws must lead to such conclusion. How