Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1907-12-09

ernmental body can most wisely exer-
else It The courts will determine the
limits within which the federal author
fly can exercise IL. and there will still
remain ample work within each state
for the railway commission of that
state. and the national interstate COM
merce commission will work in har-
mony with the several state commits
sions, each within its own province. to
achieve the desired end.
The Antitrust Law.
Moreover. In my judgment there
should be additional legislation looking
TO the proper control of the great bust
ness concerns engaged In interstate
| business. this control to be exercised
| for their own benefit and prosperity
no less than for the protection of in
vestors and of the general public. AS
/ have repeatedly said in messages to
congress and elsewhere. experience has
definitely shown not merely the unwis-
dom, but the futility. of endeavoring to
put stop to all business combinations.
Modern industrial conditions are such
that combination is not only necessary,
| but inevitable. 1t is so in the world of
| business just as it is so in the world
| of labor and it is as idle to desire to put
an end to all corporations, to all big
combinations of capital. as to desire to
put an end to combinations of labor.
Corporation and labor union alike have
come to stay. Each If properly man.
aged is a source of good and not evil.
| Whenever in either there is evil it
should be promptly held to account.
but it should receive hearty encourage
ment so long as it is properly managed.
1t is profoundly immoral to put or
keep on the statute books a law nomi-
nally in the interest of public morality
that really puts a premium upo% pub
lie immortality by undertaking TO for
bid honest men from doing what must
be done under modern business condi-
lions so that the law itself provides
fthat it's own infraction must be the
condition precedent upon business sue
cess. TO aim at the accomplishment
of too much usually means the accom-
plishment of too little and often the do
ing of positive damage.
Not Repeal, but Amendment.
The antitrust law should not be re-
pealed. but il should be made both
more efficient and more in harmony
with actual conditions. 1t should be
so amended as to forbid only the kind
of combination which does harm to the
general public. such amendment to be
accompanied by or to be an incident of
grant of supervisory power to the
government over these big concerns
engaged in interstate business. This
should be accompanied by provision
for the compulsory publication of ac-
counts and the subsection of books and
papers to the inspection of the gov
eminent officials. A beginning has al
ready been made for such supervision
by the establishment of the bureau Of
corporations.
The antitrust law should not prohibit
combinations that do no injustice to
the public. still less those the existence
of which is on the whole of benefit
to the public But even if this feature
of the law were abolished there would
remain as an equally Objectionable fea-
ture the difficulty and delay now Incl
dent to its enforcement. The govern
ment must now submit to irksome and
repeated delay before obtaining a final
decision of the courts upon proceedings
instituted, and even a favorable de-
+ cree may mean an empty victory
, Moreover, to attempt to control these
, corporations by lawsuits means to i'm
, pose upon both the department OF
justice and the courts an impossible
2 burden. 1t is not feasible to carry or
more than a limited number of such
- suits. Such a law to be really effec
,. tive must of course be administered
by an executive body and not merely
n by means of lawsuits. The design
o should be to prevent the abuses Incl
, dent to the creation of unhealthy anC
f improper combinations instead of wait
Y ing until they are in existence anG
n then attempting to destroy them by
!. civil or criminal proceedings.
e Law Should Be Explicit.
IS A combination should not be tolerat
IS ed if it abuse the power acquired b!
d combination to the public detriment
IS No corporation or association of an!
J. kind should be permitted to engage IL
1t foreign or interstate commerce that i
r formed for the purpose of or who's
D. operations create monopoly or gen
Is eral control of the production, sale o
le distribution of any one or more of tn
lie prime necessities of life or articles o
D. general use and necessity. Such com
In binations are against public policy
c. | They violate the common law. Tn
TO doors of the courts are closed to thos
r who are parties to them, and l believ
III the congress can close the channels G
III interstate commerce against them fo
ne its protection. The law should max
its prohibitions and permissions a
clear and definite as possible, leavin
the least possible room for arbitrar
IA action or allegation of such action o
:! the part Of the executive or of dive
g gent interpretations by the courts.