Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-03-21
Washington Bureau of
The Ottumwa Courier.
Washington, March 10.


When the administrations bill for
the revision Of the Sherman anti
trust law comes before congress there
is going to be 1naugurated contest
which will reach down to the very
fundamentals of the national policy
toward corporations.
Shall great combinations, even II
so powerful as to be constructive of
competition, be regarded as possibly
good or as necessarily bad?
Are they to be accepted as newt
able or as incidental and casual?
Shall they be tanned, domesticated and
harnessed to work for the common
These are the questions whose
answer is involved in the action of
congress on the proposed legislation
Shall competition still be the aim of
administration, or shall the impossi-
bility of competition under modern
conditions be accepted and regulation
substituted?
Radical republicans and most dem
ocrats are plainly preparing to dis
agree with the administration on the
new policy Not enough is generally
known about the legislation which the
|
contemplation to make it possible for
public men to formulate their conclu-
sions about it. But it is understood
very definitely that the legislation
aims to classify combinations in re-
straint Of trade; to place on one side
those which are unfair and unrea-
sonable,' and on the other side those
which do not deserve the characteri-
cation of these adjectives.
Congress Is disposed to be Jealous
because the administration has under
taken to frame bill for it to consid-
er. One senator, who has been seri-
ously considered in connection with
the possibility of asking him to intro
duce the measure-but who hasn't
been told of this fact as yet-when
asked how he felt about the legisla.
ton, snorted out an inquiry as to why
a bunch of college professors, lawyers
and captains of industry were drafting
it? Which recalls an incident that
occurred early in this session.
A leading German newspaper had
sent correspondent to Washington
port especially on the consideration
SiFSil " uhollSldi lSSlSldIlOli. L ue
young man was university product
and himself lecturer on economic
subjects, who in addition to his news
paper work was under engagement tc
teach at a leading American univer
sity. When he had been watching
congress and studying it's attitude fol
a short time he asked:
where are the university men?
don't see them around and don't see
them quoted"
He was told that it was mighty dan
gerous to get the college professors
mixed up with legislation in the Unit
ed States. They were sure to be de
nounced by the law makers as dan
gerous theorists without practica
knowledge. He smiled
''In Europe" he said when a bis
question like this comes up, the uni
versity men, the students and think
ers, would be turned loose on it a
once. The politicians would sit bach
and let the first discussion be con
Quoted by the theorists. They would
read and study and digest what tn:
theorists made out of it, The col
, lege men would be allowed, indeed ex
/ pected, to direct the discussion. tt
, work out the general lines on which
legislation should proceed. Whe1
, their discussion had .crystallized
general scheme apparently satisfac
tory, Legislature would come in AM