Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-21
THE COMING MESSAGE
Why the President Would
Amend the Sherman Law.
DEEMS II ineffective
Claims That It Does Not Discrimi-
nate as to Trusts.
WOULD RETAIN ITS PRINCIPLES
No Secrecy Observed in Regard to
the Recommendations That Will
Be Made to Congress.

| By WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
| Herald.
The President is explaining to all OF his
| congressional callers these days the ne
| cessity of repeating or ''overhauling." as
| he calls it, the Sherman antitrust act,
| because 1t IS ineffective and does not
| justify its existence on the statute books
He explains that 1t is almost impossible
| to secure a conviction under that act and
that the failure of the Department of
Justice to show more practical results in
| the prosecution of the trusts has been due
to the law and not to any lack of
| ability or energy on the part of the legal
representatives of the government. Dur
ing six years of the present administra-
ton twenty-nine suits have been brought
| under the Sherman act; twelve cases have
| been tried; only three have been entirely
| successful: eight partially successful and
| in the remainder the verdicts have been
practically against the government Sew
eral cases are now pending, ant in four
Of them the government has been partial
ly successful. The three cases in which
the government has obtained a complete
Victory are those for the dissolution of the
Northern Securities Company. the beef
trust and the paper trust. However, in
| the latter case the company Is still doing
| business at the old stand, in the old way,
and controls the output Of the printing
paper, although the courts have ordered
the combination of interests to be dis
solved. The Standard OIL case Is still
| pending and testimony is being taken in
New York. Suits against the American
Tobacco Company and the powder trust
are also pending, but it will be a long
time before verdict Of any kind can be
| obtained. The obstacles encountered by
the officers OF the Department of Justice
| have been almost insurmountable and the
President Is expected to make this clear
| In his message to Congress.
There has been no change In the Presi-
dents opinion or his policy. He has not
abandoned the principles or admitted that
! 1t is impracticable for the federal gov
eminent to supervise and regulate cor
porations, but he is trying to convince
| members Of Congress who call upon him
that 1t cannot be done under the Sherman
law. which must be thoroughly "over-
hauled or an entirely new law enacted
| in its place before anything can be ac-
complished. He reads paragraphs from
his Provfncetown speech last summer as
expressing his attitude on this question.
In that speech he said:
THE principle of the Sherman law, so
| far as it prohibits combinations which,
whether because of their extent or of their
character, are harmful to the public must
| hope, with reasonable speed, the national
government must pass laws which. while
increasing the supervisory and regulatory
| powers of the government, also permit
such useful combinations as are made with
absolute opennesS, and as the representa-
| tives Of the government may previously
approve. But 1t will not be possible to
permit such combinations save as the sec
| ond stage in course of proceedings OF
which the first stage must be the exercise
| nj fa ~ hx,<
| tional government"
No Discrimination in the Law.
The President explains that he wants
| the Sherman antitrust law repealed or
| amended because 1t makes no distinction
between the good trusts and the bad
| trusts. For example. labor union which
undertakes to regulate wages or hours of
| work, or which orders a strike, is guilty of
restraining trade quite as much as a
| clique Of spectators who endeavor to
| control and advance the price of any COM
modify. Under the Sherman law the
| American Federation of Labor is guilty of
conspiracy every day or q dozen times a
| day, and the same may be said of every
other organization whose object Is to pre-
vent unreasonable competition-boards of
education, associations of merchants, bar
bers' unions which fix prices for shaving
and hair cutting, hotel keepers who agree
| to charge the same prices for foou and
| lodging, manufacturers who enter into
contracts with their employees and every
| body else who undertakes to regulate or
| establish rates of wages or prices of any
| commodity. The Melon Growers Asso-
| citation at Rocky Ford, Col, fixes the
price OF cantaloupes: the milkmen of every
| city get together and agree upon the price
| of milk; the Wholesale Groc rs Associa-
| tons agree not to cut prices, and pub
| fishers arrange not to undersell each other
in books. All of this is violation of the
| Sherman law just as much as the pooling
| Of railroads.
The most fragrant case of RESTRAINT in
| trade at present is the efforts of the Cot
| ton Planters Association, which takes in
| the entire south and has thousands of
| members, to secure an agreement to limit
| the acreage to be planted to cotton next
year and to secure written pledges from
! planters that they will not sell their crops
until the price reaches Is cents pound
| In other words, the cotton growers of a
| dozen different states have formed gil
| Santic trust to restrain trade, to increase
! prices and to compel consumers to nav
| more for every form of cotton fabric.
And. what is the more remarkable, mem
bers of Congress from the south, the news
| papers of that section and the commercial
and industrial associations are demanding
| that the government itself shall become a
| party to this conspiracy by loaning money
| from the public treasury to the planters to
| pay their current expenses and take their
cotton as security until the price reaches
the limit fixed by the conspirators.
Supported by the South.
II the railway companies, the mill own
ers. or commission men handling cotton
engage in any such movement it would be
considered a crime and the authority Of
the government would be invoked to pun
ish them under the Sherman law, but so
| long as the entire crtton-growinx popula-
ton of the south is involved. the leaders
are safe from prosecution or even from
| criticism. No one can object to a cotton
planter holding his crop for higher prices.
as high as he can get: no one can object to
MS borrowing money upon his cotton to nay
current eXpe nses so that he will not be
compelled to sell. and. as long as he does
It, 1t is movement for the public welfare
But after the cotton has passed from
| the farmers into the ownership of the
commission men or of the mill men, such
| a conspiracy would be in restraint of
trade: 1t would be contrary to public
policy and the army would be called out,
| II necessary. to suppress it.
| No complaint has been made to the At
torney General or to the President or to