The Washington times., 1910-12-11

ldSL week ne changes IOtOWtA tiit
another with such rapidity that Wall
Street found It difficult to determine at
times whether the market was strong
or weak. on one point all observers
were agreed, which was that dealings
were almost entirely of a professional
character. and IL really appeared at
times as though the trading element
were engaged in testing the element of
strength or weakness Considering the
recent continued and severe declines,
the recoveries when they came were
feeble affairs. but while this spoke eio-
quently OF the absence or meagerness
Of buying power, there was little in the
selling that suggested liquidation, and
the market AT tie last showed dis
tinctIy stronger Undertone-
At the weeks end the sentiment
among banking interests was more Ia
vorabIy inclined, as a result Of the de-
cision OF the United States circuit court
in the Temple Iron Company case, Un-
der which the lower court holds that
there is no general conspiracy in re-
-traint Of trade In the anthracite coal
Industry, though the Temple Iron Com
pany is declared Illegal The decision
is not final inasmuch as the case VIII
Wall Street extracted n great deal or
comfort out Of it, because Of the nature
Of the findings These sem to Indicate
that q conspiracy in restraint OF trade
must be determined BY ne practices OF
a company rather than BY the fact thai
a corporation exercises some general
supervision over an interstate industry.
The Anthracite Coal Case
While the decision Of the lower court
In the anthracite coal case is not against
the application Of the Sherman anti
trust act, it certainly holds that the
statute is not VIC ated. unless the meth
DDS Of the corporation are such as 20
prevent competition. This has been the
contention right along Of the large in
dustriaI corporations, who have pointed
out. as was done by the counsel Of the
American Sugar Refining Company
some ten days ago. that while TIE
growth OF the country made modern
business methods, as exemplihed ny in
dustrial combinations, essential, com
petition continued, and this vas illus
trated IN the case Of the Sugar trust,
BY the fact that whereas the company
at its inception, some twenty years ago.
did IS Per cent Of the refining business
OF the country. its proportion OF the
whole refining business last year was
but a per cent
If the Supreme Court should take the
same view IN the Standard on and the
American Tobacco Company cases that
the circuit court for the Eastern dis
trict OF Pennsylvania has held in the
Temple Iron case. Wall Street would
re Apply indeed. but the status Of the
cor anies IS not wholly the same. and
the strict Constructionists OF the Su-
preue Court may hold again, IN the
great cases now pending, as they have
In the past, that the Sherman antitrust
act does not take the character Of the
combination into consideration TO de
termine whether IL works beue1ciaIly
OF otherwise but holds ali combina-
tons 10 be Illegal II the power 10 re-
strain competition exists, whether re
straiut IS exercised or not Such Is the
statute as II stands. said the Supreme
Court, and It is for Congress to give
relief. by permitting beneficial combina-
TONS and President Taft made the
same point clear in his special message
a year ago
The Message and Wall Street
So far as the Presidents message %
Congress this year is concerned. wsu
Street found II a coIorless document
Rather full synopses of the document
were in bankers hands as early as
Thursday OF the preceding week, 50 the
mere printing Of the message by the
news agencies, and the papers, really
conveyed no new information TO the
important interests Stocks broke on
its appearance, TO be sure, and the
professional trading element professed
prominent that the President said
so much about the work Of the depart
ments, and so little about the cOuntry's
affairs, but. as a matter Of fact the
decline was nOJ due TO hquidating sales
il was simply the result Of a bear raid,
made successful BY the lack Of public
interest and he absence OF buying
power
Banking and commercial interests
found no particular fault with the mes
sage, and were grateful Tor its tenn
peTate tone in reference to such matters
as tariff revision and the Sherman
antitrust act. Tt IS regarded as wholly
logical that the President should find
no further antitrust legislation neces-
Sary until the country has digeSted the
effects Of the corrective measures al
ready put in force, and until the I'm
pending decisions made II perfectly
clear what the limitations are Of cor
porations, under the antitrust law. In
dustrv assuredIy needs no further
harassment from legislation at this
time, and Il IS only by some let-up IN
large its foreign trade. build up its
home industries, and strengthen the
confidence Of capital IN domestic in
vestment.
Trade Recession
To these latter favorable points,
touched upon by President Taft in his
message, Wall Street devoutIy says
Amen, but opinions are by no means
unanimous, as to the time when the
country may realize these hopes, and
bankers are much peTplexed as TO what
may happen in the meanwhile In other
words, the opinion still prevails that
there can be no very long sustained re-
cOvery in commercial or financial lines,
until some Of the great national prob
lens now before the community are
definitely solved The question of i'm
pending trade reaction. raised by re
marks on that subject by James J Hi.
IS still Uppermost among topics dis
cussed among bankers and merchants
Two schools OF opinion, radically diff
ferent- are developing, on this question
or the Industrial future How can
trade reaCtZ says one, We are ninety
three million, and we have crops worth
nine billions How can we avoid Teac-
tiOnG says the other; bank loans are
1901 10000 above last year, with cash
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