River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-01-15
KNOX ON THE TRUST QUESTION.
Attorney General Makes Public His Views Which
Represent Attitude of Administers tion-Rec-
concentrations for Legislation.

in this class of cases against either
shipper or carrier.
The casus omissus in the inter
state commerce act should now be
supplied by imposing a penalty upon
carrier and beneficiary alike, and by
giving to the courts the right to re-
strain all such attractions of the law.
The prohibition against carriers
should be limited to those subject to
the act to regulate commerce. Only
carriers operating a line of railroad
or rail and water line as one line
are required to publish their rates
and adhere to them. It is imprac
ticable to control lines operating
wholly by water. Rates of water
transportation are necessarily open
to the freest competition, are inva-
riably low by comparison. and thus
naturally furnish the standard of
reasonablenesc without express reg
ulation.
1t should be made unlawful to
transport traffic by carriers subject
to the interstate commerce act at n
less rate than the published rate, and
all who participate in violating the
law should be punished.
Provision should also be made to
reach corporations and combinations
which produce wholly within q state,
but whose products enter interstate
commerce. This provision should re-
late, first, to concerns which fatten
on rebates; second, to concerns which
sell commodities below the general
price in particular localities or in any
other way in particular localities
seek to destroy competition.
There should be a comprehensive
plan to enable the government to get
at all the facts bearing upon the or
ganization and practices of concerns
engaged in interstate commerce, not
with view to hampering any legiti-
mate business of such concerns, but
in order to be in position to take &C
ton if necessary.
Favors n CommfSsiOn.
To this end a commission or spe-
cial bureau in the proposed depart
ment of commerce should be created,
whose duty it should be to investigate
the operations of concerns engaged in
interstate or foreign commerce. to
gather information and data enabling
it to make recommendation for adj
ditional legislation to report to the
president This would be a first step
in securing proper publicity. This
commission should have authority to
inquire into the management of any
concern doing an interstate business
whenever it becomes necessary or de-
sirable; it should have the authority
to call for reports from them, to COM
pei testimony from all witnesses and
by the production of books, papers,
etc.
These recommendations are based
on the central thought that the first
step should be taken by a law aimed
at what are certainly known to be
unreasonable practices directly re-
strictive of freedom of commerce, and
by a law securing some governmental
supervision as outlined above. A spe
cial act should be passed at once to
speed the final decision of cases pend
ing or to be raised under the pres
ent antitrust law, providing for the
hearing of such cases by full bench
of circuit judges and for direct APP
peal from the circuit courts to the SUI
preme court of the United States.