Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-04-28

al body has adequate power Of control
over them. At present the failure Of
the Congress to utilize and exercise
the great powers conferred upon it as
regards Interstate commerce leaves
this commerce to be regulated, not by
the State nor yet by the Congress-, but
by the occasional and necessarily mad
equate and one-sided action Of the
Federal judiciary. However upright
and able court is, it can not act con-
structively; it can only act negatively
or destructively, as an agency of gov
eminent; and this means that the
courts are and must always be unable
| to deal effectively with a problem like
the present, which requires construc-
| tive action. A court can decide what
| is faulty, but it has no power to make
| better what it thus finds to be faulty.
| There should be an efficient Executive
| body created with power enough to COR
| rect abuses and scope enough to work
out the complex problems that this
| great country has developed. 1t is
not sufficient objection to say that such
| body may be guilty of unwisdom or
of abuses. Any Governmental body,
whether a court or a commission,
whether executive, legislative or judi
cial, if given power enough to enable
| it to do effective work for good, must
also inevitably receive enough power
to make it possibly effective for evil.
Therefore, it is clear that (unless a
National Incorporation law can be
forthwith enacted) somebody or bodies
! in the Executive service should be CIV
en- power to pass upon any combination
| t. -lo%. - sr&o 30
commerce, and every such combination
or agreement not thus approved should
be treated as in violation of law and
\ prosecuted accordingly. The issuance
of the securities of any combination
doing interstate business should be
under the supervision of the National
| Government.
| A strong effort has been made to
have labor organizations completely
exempted from any Of the operations
Of this law, whether or not their acts
are in restraint Of trade. Such ex-
ception would in all probability make
| the bill unconstitutional, and the Leg
islature has no more right to pass a
bill without regard to whether it is
constitutional than the courts have
| lightly to declare unconstitutional a
law which the Legislature has solemnly
enacted. The responsibility is as great
on the one side as on the other, and
an abuse of power by the Legislature
in one direction is equally to be con-
demned with an abuse of power by the
| courts in the other direction. 1t is not
| possible wholly to except labor organ
iZations from the workings Of this law,
and they who insist upon totally eX-
| cepting them are merely providing
| that their status shall be kept wholly
| unchanged, and that they shall con-
| tinue to be exposed to the action which
| they now dread. Obviously, an organ
| izalion not formed for profit should
| not be required to furnish statistics IN
any way as complete as those furnished
| by organizations for profit Moreover,
| so far as labor is engaged in Lroduc-
| ton only, it's claims to be exempted
| from the antitrust law are sound.
| This would substantially cover the
right Of labOrers to combine, to strike
peaceably and to enter into trade
| agreements with the employers. But
| when labor undertakes in a wrongful
| manner to prevent the distribution and
| sale OF the products Of labor, as by
| certain forms of the boycott, it has left
I the field of production, and it's action
| may plainly be in restraint of inter-
| state trade, and must necessarily be
| subject to inquiry, exactly as in the
| case of any other combination for the
| same purpose, SO as to determine
| whether such action is contrary to
sound public policy. The heartiest en-
| enlargement should be given to the
| wageworkers to form labor unions and
| to enter into agreements with their
| employers; and their right to strike, so
| long as they act peaceably, must be
preserved. But we should sanction
neither a boycott nor blacklist which
would be illegal at common law.
| The measures 1 advocate are in the
| interest both of decent corporations
and of law -abiding labor unions
| They are, moreover, prominently in
| the interest of the public, for in my
| judgment the American people have
| definitely made up their minds that
| the days of the reign of the great law
| dcfying and law-evading corporations
! are over, and that from this time on
| the mighty organizations of capital
| necessary for the transaction of bust
! ness under modern conditions, While
encouraged SO iOIlS as they ACT HoLeSl-
| ly and in the interest of the general
| public, are to be subjected to careful
| supervision and regulation of a kind
so effective as to insure their acting in
| the interest of the people as whole.
Allegations are often made to the
effect that there is no real need for
| these laws looking to the more effec-
| tive control Of the great corporations
upon the ground that they will do
their work well without such con-
| troll. 1 call your attention to the ac-
| companying copy of report just sub
| mitted by Mr.. Nathan Matthews,
Chairman of the Finance Commission,
to the Mayor and City Council of Bos-
ton, relating to certain evil practices
of various corporations which have
been bidders for furnishing to the city
iron and steel This report shows
that there have been extensive COM
| binations formed among the various
corporations which have business with
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