New-York tribune., 1908-12-15
SHERMAN LAW CHANGE
SETH Low DRAFTING BILL.
To Haze amendments Introduced at
Present Session of Congress.

Seth Low president of the National Civic Fedora
| tion, Is engaged in framing amendments 10 me
Sherman antitrust law which he expects to have
introduced at the present session of Congress III
this work he has asked the advice and assistance
of numerous labor and business organizations, as
well Of many prominent men as individuals
The work has not reached the point where Mr.
Low feels he Is In any position TO discuss just what
form the amendments finally will take. but the
letters sent out by him than q week ago have
already fruit in the shape of suggestions oil
various kinds
In bis annual report before the meeting of ths
Civic Federation at the Hotel Astor yesterday MI
Low recalled what the federation did year ago
in an attempt to pass legislation which might more
clearly define the of the Sherman law and
Of the failure to get the support OF ether business
labor interests in any large degree
In discussing the Sherman law as 1t stands MI
Low expressed the opinion that trade agreement
that does not IN interstate trade lies alto
gether outside the scope of the law. Regarding
the possibility of amending the law so as to be
of greatest service to the majority of the people,
Mr. Low said:
law which instead of forbidding all restraints or
trade will forbid only unreasonable restraints OF
trade. and which will provide amnesty for the
past, III on the theoretical ground that what mas
ZION that ii was contrary to the law: and (2l the
practical ground that TO attempt 70 rip up wnat
has already been done would destroy the industry
of the country The representatives of organized
labor. the other hand, ask to be omitted alto-
gether from the provisions of the sherman act.
1t is evident to your committee that the changes
desreo oy me T 80 are com
with very serious obJectlon uhiess tley aIg % C- III
bined with some positive legislation Wh1ch VIII Pr
vide effective method of assuring TO t1e the
country. in the future the power to protect tseIi
in advance from combinations in the industrial
which originally created the sentiment which placed
the Sherman anttru law upon the statute books,
commercial combinat tons. in the future should be
thong
and Such persons also believe that there IS tae
same inherent right ia the body polite TO 90 me
one as the other On the other hand. the demand
Of organized labor to be exempted altogether from
the past end is likely be objected to in the
pIace on American soil because organized labor is
believed to be capable of exercising restraint OF
trade, no less than commercial corporations
The whole subject Mr.. Low said, was made DIFF
nc,It because OF the decisions OF the United States
Supreme Court that the federal government can
regulate interstate commerce, but cannot regulate
the corporations taking part in it He said:
# cannot be too clearly apprehended that the ef-
ereignty-can regulate both the agent that does
that is done. This me personally a situa-
aticn very nearly ntoIerabe. when it is recognized
estimates obtainable perhaps 80 per cent Of 81
commerce is Interstate commerce, and only 10 per
cent ntrastate commerce.
slant STRENGTHENING of the demand for federal In
corporation of all the larger organizations that are
Incorporation. the Tinted states governnent would
then be related to federay Incorporated enterprises
dong interstate commerce, precisely il IS
lated now to national banks. 1t then provide
for similar supervision Of such corpora tiOns and
can pass laws, il need be, defining what such cor
perations can do and what they cannot do
porations that must be federalIy Incorporated by
the percentage OF business which they 90, and any
effort to discriminate between interstate corpora
tons upon the basis of capital, while it offers
trary- 1t has occurred to me that possibly an ef
fecttve discrimination could be made by requiring
porste federaiiy whose stocks or bonds are either
listed upon the exchanges sold upon the curb
tions that attain magnitude sufficiently great 70
involve serious questions Of public policy.
I recognize that such outcome. II II IL
10 take place, will be the result of a long agita
ton and it may involve an amendment of the
sort can be done | speak Of 1t here because #
tions that involved in any attempt TO deal thor
oughly with the conditions aimed at by the Sher-
man antitrust law.
In closing Mr.. Low said:
Every. who realizes what. Instrument Of
oppression and destruction this law be. in the
light Of recent judicial decisions ought to be will
fcation One thing goes without saying. whatever
binatons II capital must apply equally to com
biuatons of labor: and whatever amnesty IS to the
labor IF ali the elements concerned viii approach
the question in this spirit Of adjustment it Is pos
VIII command sufficient backing to be successful
Except in such spirit I apprehend that nothing
be done
The New York Manufacturers Association hand
ed &c the COMMITTEES on resolutions OF the Ma
tional Civic Federation yesterday resolutions il
which the association declares that whatever
amendments may be offered the Sherman Ian,
the substantial integrity of the act must be pre-
served and no amendment must be passed that
would render it unenforcable unconstitutional
The association offered another resolution de-
clarng belief that participants in collective
labor contract have rights superior to those
who prefer TO sell or buy their labor individually,
that the right Of each employer TO buy and indi-
ydual 10 sell labor he seSs 7t cannot be dusa-