Evening journal., 1908-04-28
PRESIDENT ASKS
FOR MORE LAWS
Wants Senate to Amend Sher-
man Law and TO Limit
Power OF Injunction
UPHOLDS LABOR BUT
DISAPPROVES OF BOYCOTT

WASHINGTON. April 2s-President
Roosevelt yesterday sent to Congress his
fourth message of the session. In it
he males another earnest plea for the
enactment Of a law limiting the power
of the Injunction and for amendments
to the antitrust law.
In the course of his message he re-
fers to a report Of the finance commit
tee Of the city of Boston, relating to
certain evil practices Of corporations
doing business with the city.
That report alleges that collusive
bids were submitted bv manufacturers
and dealers in structural steel. includ-
ing the American Bridge Company, one
of the constituent members of the u.
S. Steel Corporation, for the purpose Of
raising prices. The President says he
has submitted this report TO the de-
partment of justice for q thorough in
vestigation and for action under the
antitrust law Il actioa shall prove
practicable.
Control Of coruortions.
The President says:
Power should unquestionably be
lodged somewhere in the executive
branch of the government TO permit
combinations which will further public
interests; but it must always be re-
membered that as regards the great
and wealthy combinations through
which most of the interstate business
of to-day is done. the burden Of proof
should be on them to show that they
have the right to exist No judicial
tribunal has the knowledge of expert
ence to determine in the first place
whether a given combination is advis-
able or necessary in the interest of tho
public. Somebody, whether a COM
mission, or a bureau under the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor should
be given this power. My personal be-
lief is that ultimately we shall have to
adopt a national Incorporation law,
though 7 am well aware that this may
be impossible at present"
Discussing how impossible it is to
maintain a dual control of National
commerce, how the States are unable
TO control and the nation can control
with effectiveness and wisdom. the
RaaS ident says.
AT present the failure Of Congress
to utiliza and exercise the great powers
cotsserred upon it. as regards inter-
state commerce, leaves this commerce
to be regulated, not by the States nor
yet by the Congress, but by the oc-
casional and necessarily inadequate
and one-sided actitn of the
Federal judiciary. However upright
and able a court is it cannot act con-
structively: It can only act negatively
or destructively as an agency of the
government and this means that the
courts are and must always be. unable
to deal effectively with problem like
the present, which requires construc-
tive action.
Therefore It IS clear that
unless an international law can be
formulated. some body CT bodies Of the
executive service should be given pow
er to pass on any combination or agree
ment for Interstate commerce and
every such combination thus disap-
proved SHOULD be treated in violation
Of the law and prosecuted according
w. The issuance OF the securities of
any combination doing interstate busi-
ness shosid be under the supervision
Of the national government"
Labor Has a Right to Com bine.
Speaking of an effort to have labor
organizations completely exempted
from any Of the operations of the law,
whether or not their acts are in re-
straint Of trade the President says that
such exceptions would in all probability
make the bill unconstitutional.
He maintains the right of laborers
TO combine. to strike peaceably and to
enter into trade agreements with the
employers. "but," he says, 1--WE should
sanction neither 8 boycott, nor black
list. which would be illegal at COM
mon law. The measures I advocate
are in the interest both Of decent cor
porations and of law-abiding labor
unions They are, moreover, pre-
eminently in the interest of the public
for. in my Judgment, the American
people have definitely made up their
minds that the day. OF the great law