Morris tribune., 1910-10-21


providing a method for compensat1ng
employees of interstate carriers for in
| juries received in the service, and to
report plan, or bill, on the subject.
| If such a scheme can be worked out
| it will obviate the necessity of resort
ing to the courts and will furnish a
speedy and inexpensive way of secur-
| ing compensation.
Government Employees.
| The Federal Government cannot be
sued without it's consent, and hence
those who are injured, or lose their
| lives, in the government service have
no remedy, as in cases outside OF the
public service. To afford limited and
partial relief in such cases Congress
passed the act of May 80, 1908, giving
to government employees, in case they
are injured in the service, and to
their families in case the injury results
in death, limited compensation, pay
able without suit or litigation. The
| law, in view of the fact that the gov
ernment cannot be sued, is undoubted-
| ly just and necessary, for it is intoler-
| able that the government employees
should be without any relief. But the
| law is fairly open to the criticism that
the compensation given is too scant,
as it is practically limited to one years
salary of the employe injured, even
where death is the result of the in
| jury. I have no doubt but that Con-
gress will, in the near future, remedy
| this defect and allow more adequate
and just compensation. In 1882 Con-
gress passed law along similar lines
for the benefit of the life-saving SER
vice. The limit under this law cannot
exceed two years salary of the en-
ploye injured in the service.
Miners.
For the protection of laborers and
workmen engaged in mining, Congress,
at it's last session, passed the act of
May 16, 1910, establishing a Bureau of
Mines in the Department of the In
terror. This bureau is especially
charged with the duty of inVestigat-
ing Che methods and appliances of
mining, with a view of ascertaining
and prescribing the best methods and
the best appliances conducive to the
health, safety and welfare of the min
ers. The bureau is also charged with
the duty of ascertaining the causes of
mine explosions, and of prescribing
the best means of preventing the same.
! This legislation will prove of great
value to those who are engaged in
the hazardous work of coal and iron
mining, and for that matter to all
other classes of miners.
Antitrust Law.
While public service corporations,
such as railroads, can be regulated
and controlled by legislation even to
the extent of prescribing rates, that
is not the case with other corpora
tions. AS to these, in the matter of
rates, relief must come by keeping the
door of competition open. Through
consolidation and absorption con-
| siderable number of great industrial
corporations, with immense capital at
their command, and aiming at mo-
nOpOly in trades and manufacturing,
were organized and put into opera
tion during the eighties, and before
It became evident that a few great
corporations aimed at nothing less
than to mOnOpOlize and entirely con-
troll the trade in their respective lines.
This was notably the case with the So
called sugar trust, and the Standard
Oil trust; and these cases, though the
greatest, were nevertheless typical of
many others. The public, as soon as
they felt and realized the effect of
these great combinations, looked about
for relief. And it was found that the
common law was insufficient, that
state legislation was too limited and
| incomplete, and that full and cOmpre-
hensive legislative relief could only
come through Congress. Congress was
appealed to and the appeal resulted in
the great antitrust act of 1890, passed
| by a Republican Congress during Har-
rison's administration. This law has
oftentimes been called the Sherman
Act, but this is mistake. The bill he
introduced did not pass, but substi
tute therefor, reported by the Judi
ciary Committee Of the Senate, was
the bill that passed and became the
law. Senator Edmunds was undoubt-
edly the author and father Of this sub
stitute The law was drawn with great
skill and has been found to be more
far-reaching, more searching, and more
effective than was at first supposed to
be the case, and 1t has stood the test
and successfully run the gauntlet of
the courts. It prohibits all monopolies
and all combinations in restraint of
interstate trade and commerce, and
while 1t cannot on constitutional
grounds, technically reach corpora
tions engaged exclusively in manufac-
turing, yet inasmuch as all great man
ufacturing concerns are also engaged
| in vending their products throughout
the country and thus engaged in in
! terstate trade and commerce, they can
undoubtedly be reached, restrained
and prosecuted under this law. The
prohibitions Of the act are broad and
of the most comprehensive character.
It makes no distinction between good
and bad trusts, as some in these later
days would have US do. All combina-
tions in restraint of trade and all mo-
nopolies in trade, however fatherly the
purpose may have been, are absolutely
prohibited and the courts have right
| fully declined to consider whether
trust is reasonable or unreasonable.
The law makes them all unreasonable.
Not only is the law drastic in it's pro-
hibitions but it gives ample remedies
for violations Of the same. Four class
es of remedies are provided: (D by
criminal prosecution; (2) by injunc-