Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-28
ROOSEVELT CALLS ON CONGRESS TO PASS LAWS

dicial, IL given power enough to enable
1t to do effective work for good, must
| also inevitably receive enough power
to make it possibly effective for evil.
Therefore 1t Is clear that (unless
national incorporation law can be en-
acted) that body Of bodies in the exec
utive service should be given power to
pass upon any combination or agree
ment in relation to Interstate COM
merce and every such combination and
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.
Efforts of Labor
"a strong effort has been made to
have labor organizations completely
exempted from any of the operations
| of the law, whether or not their acts
are in restraint of trade. Such excep-
ton would in all probality make the
bill unconstitutional, and the legisla-
| ture has no more right to pass a bill
| without regard to whether 1t Is consti-
| tutional than the courts have ngntiy
| to declare unconstitutional 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 di-
rection is equally to be condemned
with an abuse of power by the courts
in the other direction. 1t is not pos
sihle wholly to except labor organiza-
tions from the workings of this law,
and they who insist upon totally ex-
empting them are merely providing
that their status shall be kept wholly
unchanged, and they shall continue TO
| be exposed to the action which they
now dread.
! "Obviously an organization not
formed for profit should not De re-
ouired to furnish statistics In any way
as complete as those furnished by Or
ganizations for profit. Moreover, so
far as labor Is engaged in production
only, it's claims to be exempted from the
ANTITRUST law are sound. This would
substantially cover the right of la
borers to combine, to strike peaceably,
and to enter into trade agreements
with the employers.
"But when labor undertakes, in
| wrongful manner, to prevent the distri-
| button and sale of the products of Ia
| Dor, as by certain forms of the boycott,
it has left the field OF production, and
it's action may plainly be in restraint
of interstate trade and must neces-
sarily be subject to inquiry, exactly as
in the case of any other combination
for the same purpose, so as to deter
mine whether such action is contrary
to sound public policy.
Encourages Labor Unions
'The heartiest encouragement should
| be given to wageworkers to form labor
unions and to enter into agreement
with their employers, and their right
to strike, so long as they act peace
ably, must be preserved. But we shouid
sanction neither a boycott, nor black
list, which would be illegal at common
| law.
"The measures 1 advocate are in the
| interest of both decent corporations
and law-abiding labor unions. They
are. moreover, pre-eminently In the in
terest of the public, for in my Judg-
ment the American public have def
nitely made up their minds that the
days of the reign of the great law
defying corporations are over and that
| from this time on the mighty organ
izations of capital necessary For the
| transaction of business under modern
conditions, while encouraged so long
as they act honestly and in the inter-
est of the general public, are to be sub
| jected to careful supervision and reg
ulation of kind so effective as to in
sure 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 control. l call
your attention to the accompanying
copy of report just submitted by Mr..
Nathan Matthews, chairman of the
| finance committee, to the mayor and
city council of Boston, relating to GER
tain evil practices of various corpora
tions which have been bidders for fur
nishing to the city iron and steel.
"This report shows that there have
been extensive combinations formed
among the various corporations which
| have business with the city of Bos-
ton, including, for instance. carefully
planned combination embracing prac-
| tically all the firms and corporations
engaged in structural steel work In
New England. This combination in
cluded substantially all the local con-
Germs and many of the larger corpora
tions in the United States engaged in
manufacturing or furnishing structural
steel for use in any part of New Eng
land; it affected the states, the cities
and towns, the railroads and street
railways, and generally all persons
| having occasion to use iron or steel for
any purpose in that section Of the
| country. AS regards the city of Bos-
ton, the combination resulted in parcel
ing the work by collective bids, plainly
dishonest and supported by false
alternatives. In its conclusion the
commission recommends as follows:
Methods ReprehensibIe
| "'Comment on the moral meaning of
these methods and transactions would
| seem superfiuous, but as they were de-
| Tended at the public hearings of the
commission and asserted to be common
and entirely proper incidents of busi-
ness life, and as these practices have
been resorted to by some of the largest
| industrial corporations that the world
1t proper to record it's own opinion.
""The commission dislikes to believe
that these practices are, as alleged, es-
| tablished by the general custom of the
| business community, and this defense
itself If unchallenged mounts to a
| grave accusation against the honesty
of present business methods, to answer
an invitation for public or private
work by sending in what purports to be
genuine bids, but what in reality are
collusive figures. purposely made high
er than the bid which is known to be
submitted by one of the supposed COM
petitors, as an act of plain dishonesty,
| to support these Misrepresentation by
| false affirmations in writing that the
bids are submitted in good faith, and
without fraud, collusion or connection
with any other bidder, Is O. positive and
deliberate fraud; the successful bidder
| in the competition Is guilty of obtain
| ing money by false pretenses; and the