The Washington herald., 1911-11-26
IDAM,1ARD[LL
Answers Doth
Questions

it has gone great way toward making monopoly impos
sible.
"As for the Bureau of Commerce and Labor, that
has BEEN of course but recently established and it is
already proving what good thing it is and how much
it needed.
ut gives the dealings of the trusts. of Big Business
all business publicity. 1t makes things 1t keeps
the eye of the government business, gives the gov
eminent the right to go corporations books, to
make whatever investigations it thinks proper.
THE existence of Bureau of Commerce and Labor
bring trade and industry completely Under the eye
of the government the army and navy. The
government can keep itself entirely informed in detail
Of the conditions and progress ct industry in America
THE orders. after prosecution under the Sherman
law for the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company
and the Tobacco Trust. and the present suit against
tho limited States Steel Corporation show what being
done under the Sherman Jaw
"r+ u,as decided that the Standard Oil Company
os onerated in restraint # trade and in defiance of
nnblic welfare: that it made Use of illegal means to
gain control that destroyed competition Ihe stand
ard Oil Company forced to dissolve: \
.sZYhat was the Standard Oil is sixty seventy
oo,oarns II may be that being found to
Get around the law TO dsobey the order OF dissolution
II may that the sixty or seventy companies hat once
mo da nm the Standard Oil acting in collision now
that they are working for special privilege
We don't know
''Rut if that is the such operations are no
,on,or easy They have become exceedingly difficult
40 exceedingly dangerous. They practically GER
tain to be discovered and the who are operating
them if any such schemes are in operation are prac-
ticaIy certain TO to jail.
.Tbo Tobacco Trust has also been dissolved. The
Tobacco Trust carried series of piratical operations
eOualcd by the buccaneers OF the high seas
The Tobacco Trust composed Of men who were
rroater brirands and pirates than the who made
Mp the Standard Oil Company-and that is saying
yood deal
attempting to carry their business in the old way,
he same may be said of them of the Standard OIL
Company in they make any such effort They viii
ind it difficult and dangerous and they Will PROBABLY
md in Jail
AS for the case against the Steel Trust cannot
# course make any predictions now. 1t seems to me
hat the government has case. know that the steel
Trust made Il concession to possible demands from the
two days before the suit for dissolution
vas filed 1t looked a Little if it were trying to get
n ont Of the rain. TO run just in time,
"Nany corporations have taken advantage or illegal
ontro over transportation Others have been protected
" tariff that made foreign competition utterly i'm
possible
There is nothing wrong with a corporation as
UGH CORPORATIONS not attacked because they are
corporations. I personally think that corporation
hat took unrghteous advantage that was perfectly
hove board that kept completely within the law would
But few corporations do that Our corporations
re acting against the law and against public good They
ire not above board in their dealings. They act in
"But how is it possible to determine what is in
estraint of trade?" Miss Tarbel was asked. Don't
We need explicit definition of the provisions o.
he Sherman law"
Yes. we do" she replied decisively. "And we
re getting it just fast we can.
when that law made it was utterly impos-
ihe for the Supreme Court, for Congress, for the
for any TO sit down and cook up a
definition of restraint of trade Nobody knew-no-
ody could know.
That definition had to be worked out by expert
nee by tests The Standard Oil Company OBJ
ously acting in restraint of trade 1t has been there
specifically determined that the things that the
standard Oil Company did. against which decision was
endered are in restraint of trade If corporation
the future is found to be doing what the Standard
) did will not be necessary for people to argue as
whether that is in restraint of trade. They will
now that it is.
"The Tobacco Trust carried on a different set of
perations. The test was made. 1t is the same
With the Steel Trust if decision is returned against it.
I'VE know that certain things are in restrain
trade. As time goes on, more suits brought
nd tests made the definition will become entirely
pecfc.
THE men in the trusts claim that they cannot
efne the term because they do not know when they
re disobeying the law.
But they must have pretty strong suspicious, or
lse they wouldn't try to keep their manpulaOns and
eaings secret. If they were not afraid that their
perat;ons illegal they would not feel obliged to
eep them so DARK
is in destroying privilege and placing control over
the big interests in the hands of the government
hat Miss Tarbe confesses most surely her faith in the
ational integrity and the national eagerness for fair
lay.
why is it that after wave of reform
he people always swing back to the place where they
tarted always accept corruption again" Miss Tarbell
vas questioned and she smiled she shook her head
"That isn't true" she said. "They don't There
decided progress.
Public affairs ebb and flow. But they gain a
title every time San Francisco, for instance, is i'm
nensey better than it before its wave of reform
"The reason that many reforms fail, or seem l
NYHN-E HY1H