The sun., 1910-02-17
TIE RIGHT TO ENGAGE IN IN
.TERSTATE COMMERCE..

To TIE EDITOR OF THE SUN--Sir: At
torney- General wiokersham In the revision
Of his Kansas City address, as given In
the Harvard L0V ReUiesp, mentions in the
following words q declaration by Chief
Justice Marshall:
The right to engage in interstate commerce
derives It's source from thooe laws whose author
ity ls acknowledged BY civilized men throug hout
the world The Constitution found II an
eHisting hight and gave 70 Congress the power 70
regulate Il.
The text OF what Marshall said 70 whea-
ton 211) was:
Pursuing this inquiry at tho bar H has been
said that the Constitution docs not cOafer the right
Of intercOurse between State and State. That
right derives its source from those laws whose
authority Is acknowledged by civilized mon
thrOughout the world. This is true. The Con-
sutution found an existing right and gave the
power TO Congress- 70 regulate IT,
The great Chief Justice thus denied "a
torcibly aS language can that a State cor
pofation derives from Congress the right
to do an interstate business. That denial
makes impossible till the Constitution has
been changed any and every scheme to oust
the State corporation by Federal charters;
and yet the Attorney General said at
Kansas City that agencies OF commerce
thus created under national authority
might be found advisable by Congress at
some future time 10 prohibit trading COR
porations organized under State laws from
engaging in interstate commerce.
The remark made by the President in
Nsw York on Saturday evening last that
III the enforcement OF the law 10 not
consistent with the present method Of
carrying on business then those methods
"rnust be changed to conform &c the law
reminds me OF what his immediate prede-
cessor said near Plymouth Rock in 1907
few WEEKS before the panic csme which
bears his name. The remark hss an
implication unjust to business men, who
wish the antitrust law amended as Mr..
Wiokersham told his Missouri listeners
that he did and as the President told
Congress- a month ago that he once did.
The Attorney General said that "no law
on the etatute books 10 30 generally
misunderstood. He distinctly referred to
Judges Of inferior Federal circuit courts
who persist in giving it q "hteral' and
not a reasonable" Interpretation. 1t is
the possibility OF being haled before those
Judges by the Attorney General that bust
ness men dread, and the consequences to
them OF permission given at Washington
to District Attorneys and special counsel
Of the Administration 10 argue for an un-
reasonable Interpretation OF the Sherman
law. .
Industries now seem TO be paralysed
In the greater cities while awaiting. a.
they probably must for months TO come,
a decision by the Supreme Court on the
tobacco case. which the President was
careful to say in New York had been
begun in the last Administration and
had In the Circuit Court torn apart
-the congeries OF subordinate corporations
which. united by holding company, make
up the trust"
1t 10 10 bs presumed that Attorney Cen
eral Wickersham recently argued the case
In the tone Of his Kansas City speech.
Why. then, it may be asked, 90 much worry
over the outcome and lest the Supreme
Court follow the condemned literal In
depreciation by the Circuit Judkesr Who
in the present Administration or in Con-
gress asks for such an interpreta tionl
The situation is certainly strange and
very sinister. Something needs amend
ing, either the Chicago platform or the
Sherman law or business customs, The
last may present more difficulties for
Washington politicians than the first
two. II Republican voters throughout the
country wish the Sherman law amended
by a reasonable Interpretation suggested
by the Attorney General 30 as among other
things to prevent antics on the Federal
circuits. why lis it not doneY II the
good corporations and good captains OF
industry are convinced that the President
will not henceforth command and his
Attorney General will not begin prosecu-
tions on -htersl' and unreasonable in
Of tho antitrust law, Why
is there such an alarm over New Eng
landr Who are they. IL any. who wish and
demand prosecutions under unreasonable
tons OF any law? Do not Re-
publicans in Congress dare offend by en-
acting reason into the Sherman statute1
II -the present method Of conducting bust
ness" TO which the President referred In
New York is really flowing deep and
strong In accustomed channels. the poll
ticians may not find easy the work OF
change and diversion. They may have to
revise their own methods. HARVARD.
CAMBRIDoE, February 10.
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WanAr0w William