Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-22
PRESIDENT CHARLES w. NEEDHAM.

PRESIDENT CHARLES w. NEEDHAM.
action in the individual In monarchical
countries this freedom is menaced
more from the head of the state than
from other individuals in it. Under
democratic governments the individual
requires more protection against otner
individuals or groups OF individuals
than from the government. yet the
abuse of monarchical power has often
resulted in the same injury to the vel
fare OF individuals, which is occasion
ed by abuse of the power which
under democratic institutions indiv.-
duals or groups of individuals may ac-
qufre over others.
Elizabeth and the Trusts.
Queen Elizabeth of England, between
the sixteenth and forty-third years OF
her reign. partly for the purpose of rails
ing revenue and partly to reward her ia
vorites. granted very large number OF
patents. comforting upon their holders the
exclusive privilege or monopoly for desig-
mated periods of time to manufacture,
sell or deal In specified articles of com
merce. The injury to the community
caused by these special privileges became
SO great as finally to produce most
among the people, both in and out OF
parliament which led to complete and
absolute disavowal by the queen OF any
intention to affiict her subjects and the
patents and the submission to the judg-
ment Of the courts OF law OF the validity
Of the remainder.
II Conditions in This Country.
'The principles of the great decision
made by the queens court have been rec
ognized as immutable in all later dis
cussions OF the subject in the law OF
England or America. All subsequent
statutes against monopolies in England
and America depend for their reason on
the principles so clearly and so quantity
set forth in this judgment. In the de-
-veIopment of. our modern civilization,
with our boundlesS natural wealth and
our unexampled facilities Of transporta-
ton and communication, by individual
effort working through the machinery
of compact organization. the people OF
the United States twenty years ago
found themselves confronted with con-
ditions strongly resembling those which
aroused the people OF England and their
representatives in parliament to the point
of revolt against even so beloved SOW
ereign as their virgin queen
These conditions, however, unlike those
of 1901 were not wholly occasioned by
sovereign grant although they were In
large measure the result of the abuses
of grants by sovereign power of corporate
existence and the facilities OF corporate
organization. -,..sst
mo such comprehensive control over
any one OF the great industries which
were dominated By those large aggrega-
tions of capital, called trusts could have
been attained but through the exercise OF
powers granted by the sovereign states
and the condition, therefore, was strongly
analogous to that which arose in the
reign of Elizabeth True. this form OF
control had not vet resulted in that abso-
lutte power which the pateDtees of Eliza
beth possessed over the sale of salt, vim
cgar and the like.
Recourse to Legislation.
:But mindful that eternal vigilance is
the price of liberty, and in Webster's i'm
mortal phrase. While actual suffering
was yet afar off, we, like our ancestors
Of revolutionary days. raised our arms
by the peaceful method OF legislation
against. power which we perceived ris
ing cloudlike on our economic horizon
We saw the rapid concentration of pOwei
over our great Industries in a few hands
q power which no free state can Ions
suffer TO endure. the power of fixing
prices at will, determining the amount OF
thousands OF our fellow countrymer
might pursue their means of livelihood
the power to exclude or permit compe
titioD; all the elements of those monopo-
lies which so stirred the generation OF
E,nxlishmen from whom the Pilgrim
fathers came
The problem was complicated by TIT
dual nature of our government Con
certed action by the states was Inn
practicable-it may be said. impossible
of state were
evaded first by removing to another
then by the device OF holding corpora
tons. Therefore the evil could not bt
met merely through the development ant
application of the unwritten law, al
though its principles clearly established
the unlawfulness of all monopolies. Som,
means had to be found through the exer
else of national power TO check the con
tinued concentration OF the control of tn,
great industrial life of the country.
Remedy in the Constitution.
In this instance. as in many other!
in our national history, there was founl
in the simple but comprehensive charte
of our national government the basis TO
a solution OF this problem. and the pre-
yention OF the further growth or thes
great abuses by the exercise of what Mr.
Carter calls the conscious agency of so
ciety' speaking through the national leg
lSiature. In tne power conferred upon TN
Congress to regulate trade and commerce
among the states and with foreign ma
lions there was discovered a weapon
adequate to the need: and the simple
comprehensive enactment that all con
tracts and combinations which put re
straint upon interstate or foreign com
merce should be unlawful, and that tn
federal courts might enjoin them. place,
in the hands of the national judiciary tn
power to stem the rising tide OF mo
nopoly.
The underlying principle in this legis
lation is the preservation of the right o
the individual to carry on trade and com
fnerce free from undue control and re
straint on the part of great aggregation
OF individuals or capital: in a word, to pro