The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-15
TO REGULATE THEM
Congress Has the Power to Curb and
Stop Abuses of the Powers
-, of Trusts.
Attorney General Knox Speaks Of
the Sherman Law and Its Pos
sible Amendment.


Knox last night addressed the members
of the chamber of commerce. There were
700 guests present. The subject Of his ad-
dress was THE Commerce Clause Of the
Constitution and the Trusts"
The speech was in part an argument that
congress has not exhausted its power over
monopolies in passing the Sherman anti
trust law. He said:
"These great combinations, now num-
bering thousands, are the instrumentaH-
ties OF modern commercial activity. Their
number and size alone appall no healthy
American. No right thinking man desires
to impair the efficiency Of the great cor
porations as instrumentalities of national
commercial development Because they
are great and prosperous is not sufficient
reason for their destruction. II that great
ness and prosperity are not the result OF
the defiance Of the natural rights or re-
corded will Of the people, there Is no just
cause Of complaint. That there are evils
and abuses in trust promotions, purposes,
organizations, methods, management and
effects none question except those who
have profted by those evils.
THE conspicuous noXious features are
these: DISQUALIFICATION, lack Of pub
LEFTY Of operation, discrimination in prices
to destroy competition, insufficient per-
sonal responsibility Of officers and direc-
to monopoly and lack of appreciation in
their management Of their relations to the
people for whose benefit they are permit
ted to exist.
vIsI*orIai Supervision.
Corporations and associa lions trading
beyond their own states should be re-
quired to do business in every state and
locality upon precisely the same terms and
conditions. Moreover. corporations upon
which the people depend for the neces-
sartes Of life should be required to con-
duct their business so as regularly and
reasonably to supply the public needs.
They should be subject to visitoria1 super
vision, and full and accurate information
as to their operations should be made reg
ularly at reasonable intervals.
LESS difficulty is encountered In de-
scribing the mischief of trusts than IN
suggesting q rational and practical rem
edy. The constitution provides (sec. 8,
art. 81: The congress shall have power
ito regulate commerce with foreign ma
tons and among the several states and
with the Indian tribes Congress Gully
2. 1Ss0) enacted that every contract COM
bination in the form Of a trust or other
wise, or conspiracy in restraint Of trade
or commerce among the Several states Is
Illegal, providing punismments and con-
ferring jurisdiction upon federal circuit
courts to prevent and restrain violations
of the act. 1t was commonly supposed at
the time Of the passage of this act that its
provisions forbade the existence Of trusts
that were engaged in monopolizing the
production throughout the country Of var
ious articles Of general consumption, and
tho government shared in this view. Ac-
ton was begun by the United States
against what Is known as the sugar trust.
The supreme court decided that as the
monopoly was In the production or manu-
facture Of sugar and its sale or distribu-
ton among the states and to foreign
countries was but incidental thereto, 1t
was not within the prohibition Of the law
saying that manufacturing, although it
preoedes commerce, Is not a part OF 1t, and
that the act only applied to restraints Of
commerce. This distinction is easily I'M
derstood when 1t Is recolected that COM
meroe means intercourse, transmission,
communication, transportation; and COM
merce among the states, the regulation OF
which rests in the federal power means,
as the term implies, that this intercourse
shall be between or among the states.
Manufacturing, on the other hand, does
not imply or necessitate intercourse among
the states, but implies situs or place for
It's operations. In subsequent case the
government destroyed a combination
known as the Addyston Pipe combination,
but upon the ground that 1t was con-
spiraoy among Independent producers Of
pipe to restrain its sale and distribution
among the states. The combination in
this case operated directly upon interstate
commerce. These cases seem to define
the scope Of the antitrust law and show
how little there Is now left for the statute
to operate upon.
Amend the Law.
1T tho Sherman act exhausts the power
Of congress over monopolies, the American
people find themselves hopelessly i'm
potent, facing a situation fraught with the
most alarming possibilities, with which
neither the federal nor state governments
can deal
'Conceding that the present law is not
effective throughout the situation, we
come to the Anal alternatives: May not
congress-, under the existing constitutional
grants, amend and extend the law, and
thus remedy and effectively regulate
national and foreign commerce as to pre-
vent the sitting Of competition, the regu-
lating Of output and price, and the re-
straining Of national and international
trade? II the answer to this question
should be in the affirmative a second ques-
ton follows: How might congress sc
amend the present law? I do not scruple
to say that in my Judgment the more a
thoughtful mind reflects on the first ques-