The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-02-26
ANTITRUST LAM WITH IEEiIt

tec,inG the people.
ANTITRUST LAM WITH TEETH.
Three antitrust laws are now quiet
IL ~rcpo>ins iii the plgeon-holes of the
Senate Judiciary Committee The "
| cock bill has been thus FOR I'VE weeks,
the Holt bin for -four weeks; the Reid
bin for three weeks. The antl-lobbS
bin reposed in that some committee
a, for several weeks and when II emerged
! the Senate debated It ana postponed
its further consideration until-wcll.
We have forgotten the date. II mas b.
/ taken up after the bills 10 reduce
! freight and passenger rates ana the
trust bills are considered. or il may b
deferred for consideration until the
| Fourth Of July. 1t ought to have been
| passed a month ago. or defeated WITH
out ali this delay.
Really the most important bills no"
| before any committee are these anti
trust laws. Not long Z Senator BuN-
ton. appearing in the New Jersey
courts for Reidsville tobacco companies
in \ suit against the tobacco trust. was
asked by associate counsel II New
| Jersey: What sort of an anti-erust
Law have YOU in North carolina" ana
+! when told that his state had no anu
trust law of any sort. said that the
cease Of the independent companies even
in a New Jersey trial would be helped
if it could be shown hat the trust had
violated the North Carolina antitrust
law. The code Commission assumed
-, - ll- 80. ,.fil-a nj -yx-a or
antitrust alw from the statute books.
! The deck is now cleared for the en-
actment Of an antitrust law. IT rs de-
mandcd lin every Democratic platform,
IN the campaign every member of TINS
Lceislatult denounced the Republicans
because they did not enforce the anti
trust laws against the big trusts. They
cannot consistently do this again I'M
less they put on the statute books OF
North Carolina an antitrust laW with
provisions for its enforcement.
trust is no better because il is
small and controlled by clever North
Carolina folks than if controlled by
the Rockefeliers ana the Harrimans.
4 little trust is born out of q desire II
throttle competitors and grows into =
big trust if it can succeed in destroy
ing competition. The big trusts have
maintained a strong lobby in Raleigh
from the opening of tho session Of the
Legislature. and they have sent cut
scare stories TO the corporations ana
little trustIets every now and then !"
come to Raleigh, or they WouId %
ruined There are now only sixteen
DAYS left Of this legislative session. Inc
of all real trust Legislation
have oniected to this and that provi-
ton il, every law introduced, AMI
brouob interest in other matters
nothing has vet been done. Is this
LEGISLATURE going to adjourn without
fulhlIing this fundamental Democratic
hedge II a Democratic Legislature
fails to enact an antitrust law with
teeth it Will be recreant to the basic
principles Of the Democratic party.
When ne was elected Speaker. after
taking the chair, Mr.. Justice gave the
proper place TO antitrust legislation
in his speech. from which this extract
is taken:
MATTERS Of vast importance will tax
our intelligence and require the exer-
else of great patriotism on our part
cI lIlIS St>Sicil Vi tllc 1clItI Il 4 AoStiiiDIS- i
The people are being exploited by trust
and public service corporations. The
solution of the problem arising from
this condition Of affairs must be found
anG c-our&gcously adopted. It Should
not be possible for conspiratOrs who
have united themselves in a trust to
~monOpOiize the business OF buying any
Of the products Of the farms or the
mines, or the business Of selling the
products Of the factory. In State |
a. To- L. - a. 90 al doc {
not apply TO the purchase and sale of
many Of the neceSSaries n comforts !
Of life. The price of these articles is |
lowered When a trust is the buyer ana
raised when the trust is the seller so
that those who sell and those who buy
are forced To pay not what things are
worth. but what the unlawful com
~bindtio1S say they are worth. The tax
the people are forced to pay to these
tXpioIters IS measured alone by their
greed. The tobacco which the farfner
raises is sold for but little above the
cost of production. out when tits man
fractured the must pay the
price aSked in q non-compctitive mar
ket. The purchaser of window glass.
mirrors, ugar. oil. many articles Of
steel ana Of other articles must stand
ana ~ellNe when the trust fixes the
price IniS result is accomplished by
methods that are most immoral and
reprehcnsible and which should be uu-
= Ill L / IL 20 wei tStdbli>Hcu ina
the independent manufactured cannot
ShIre the profit on the articles the
trust controls that none dare now
enter these lines of business. The fate
Of those who have tried TO compete
with the trust has been such as to
deter others from entering the conteS. !
II * accepted as inevitable that the
trust may buy for less than the value
n sell for more than the value Of the
articles it deals in and that there Is no
power that viii stop it. This should
nor be 50, but the man. who. through
the trust. TohS others should be an
sWcrabie 10 tile criminal law. The man