The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-08-25

call special attention to the followlng
words:
Congress may make it unlawful to
ship from one state to another. in car
rying out, or attempting to carry out,
the designs of sncn (state) orgaEi "a :
tons, articles l-oduced, owned or con.
,rolled by them CT any of their nein-
bers or agents.
His recommendation embodies the
very idea which our plan now proposes
to carry out We want to make 1T un-
lawful for a corporation to use the in
strumentalities of interstate commerce
for the carrying out of a mOnopolistlc
purpose Surely no party can consist
emily claim to be opposed to private
monopolies which will permit the in
terstate railroads to be used to carry
out the designs of a monopoly, or
which will permit the interstate tele-
graph lines to be used to increase the
power of a private monopoly; or to
make the case stronger, no party can
consistently claim to be opposed to
the trusts which will allow the mails of
the United States to be used by the
trusts as an agency for the extermin-
alton of competition. Congress has al
ready exercised this power to extermi-
nate lotteries. Why not exercise it to
make private monopolies impossible!
None In Prison.
IF it is conceded that congress has
the power to prevent the shipment of
goods from one state to another when
such shipment is a part of a conspir-
acy against trade and commerce, then
the only question is as to the means
to be employed to prevent such ship
ment The license system provides an
easy way of regulating such corpora
tons as need federal regulation. The
laws can prohibit the doing of a thing
and impose a penalty for the violation
of the law, but experience has shown
evidence from all sections of the
United States and prosecute a great
corporation-so difficult is it that,
although the Sherman antitrust law
has been in force for IS years, no trust
magnate has been sent to the peniten-
tary for violating the law, although
in few cases the court has found cor
porations guilty of violation Of the
law In the enforcement of a penalty
the government must seek the de-
PENDANT; by the use of the license sys-
tenn the corporation is compelled to
seek the government.
"A trust can best be defined as a
corporation which controls so large a
proportion of the total quantity of any
article used in this country as to be
able to regulate the price and terms
Of sale. and as the proportion con-
trolled determines the power of the
trust for harm, it has seemed best to
use prOportionate control as the basis
of this plan, and 25 per cent has been
fixed arbitrarily as the proportion at
which the line should be drawn. A cor
poration which controls less than %
per cent Of the product in which it
deals may in extraordinary cases exert
perceptible influence in controlling
the price of the product and the terms
of sale, but as rule a corporation
age of the total product before it can
exert a hurtful influence on trade I'm
der this plan the small corporations
are left entirely free and unhampered.
This is not a discrimination against
the larger corporation, but a recogni-
ton of the fact that rules are neces
sary in the case of corporations con-
trolling a large percentage of the pro-
duct which are not necessary in the
case of smaller Compilations. Prob
ably not one per cent of the corpora
tons engaged in interstate commerce
would be required to take out Ii
canse under this plan-possibly not
one-half of one per cent-and yet
what a protection the remaining 80
per cent would find in the law requir-
ing a license in the case of the larger
ones?
THE license. however, would not
prevent the growth of the corporations
licensed. 1t would simply bring them
under the eye Of the federal govern
ment and compel them to deal with
the public in such way as to afford
the public the protection necessary.
One of the restrictions suggested is
that such licensed corporations be
compelled to sell to all purchasers in
all parts of the country on the same
terms, after making due allowance for
cost of transportation. Mr.. Taft at
tacks this restriction as utterly i'm
practicable He says: If it can be
shown that in order to drive out COM
petition, corporation owning a large
Part of the plant producing an article
Is selling in one part Of the country,
where it has competitors, at low and
Improbable price, and in another part
of the country, where it has none, at
an exorbitant price, this is evidence
that it is attempting an unlawful mo-
liopoly and justifies conviction under
the antitrust law
IF such an act is now unlawful why
is he so .frigh1e. ed at plan which
gives to the small competitor tits very
protec ton? The trouble with the pres
ent law is that il does not restra 4 The
evils at which ii is aimed The ,,ian
proposed in the democratic platfnr.,,
brings the corporation under the sur