Omaha daily bee., 1911-09-19


and against The Tobacco company, and it
is making those great combinations d.
vide themselves into actually competing
parts under such provisions in the de-
cree that an injunction shall be con-
stantly operative to prevent by contempt
proceedings any assumption Of the old
relations OF a monopoly.
1T needed these two great decisions to
teach the business public that at least
not in the supreme tribunal Of this coun-
try would the claim be listened to, thst
in this day and generation we have
passed beyond the possibility of free
competition as consistent with proper
business growth, or that we have reached
a time when only regulated monopoly
and the fixing Of prices by governmental
authority are consistent with future
progress. We did get along with compe-
ttion; we can get along with il. We did
get along without monopoly; we can get
along without It.; and the business men
OF this country must square themselves
to that necessity. Either that, or we
must proceed to state socialism and vest
the government with power to run every
business. The decision of the supreme
court is in the highest interest Of the
public, and I am glad to think that bust
ness men who have been violating the
trust law are now being made to see the
necessity for putting their houses in or
der, changing their original organizations,
giving up the idea that it was neces-
sary to control markets in order to make
profits, and reverting to the old princi-
pie Of free competition, in which all limit
upon it to prevent its being excessive
must be self-imposed by the good sense
of each competitor and not by any ar
rangement or contract between compet-
tors or secret stipulation or wink or
nod.
In a special message on the subject Of
trusts which / sent to congress January
Z, 1910. l said:
It is the duty and the purpose OF the
executive to direct an investigation by
the Department of Justice, through the
grand jury or otherwise, into the history,
industrial companies with respect to
which there is any reasonable ground for
suspicion that they have been organized
for a purpose, and are conducting bust
ness on q plan which is in violation of
the antitrust law. The work Is a heavy
one. but IL is not beyond the power of the
Department OF Justice If sufficient funds
are furnished to carry on the investiga-
tons and to pay the counsel engaged in
the work
1T wish to repeat this now, and to say
further that the attorney general has
instituted Investigations into all the in
dustrial companies above described, and
that these are in various stages of COM
pletion. 1 am glad to be able to add that
II congress shall continue needed APP
preparations every trust of any size that
violates the statute will, before the end
Of this administration in 1918, be brought
into court to meet and acquiesce in a de-
gree of disntegration by which competi-
ton between its parts shall be restored
and preserved under the persuasive and
restrictive influence of a permanent and
continuing injunction.
Under these conditions. / am entirely
opposed to an amendment of the anti
trust law. II is now a valuable govern
ment asset and instrument Tested and
brought into practical and beneficial use
| by twenty years Of litigation and CON
struction by the highest court why
should we imperil it's usefulness by ex-
periments? The outcry sought to be
raised in some quarters, followed by pro-
posals of amendments prepared without
a real understanding of the law or the
courts decisions may serve the purpose
OF promoting unreasonable and unreason-
ing discomfort, but certainly ought not
to be considered seriously.
| In my message of January Z. 1910,
advocated the passage of a statute which
shall permit the Incorporation of COM
panies engaged in interstate commerce by
the federal government. I believe that
statute might be drawn to furnish the
protection which would induce companies
engaged chiefly in interstate trade to
take on Federal Incorporation, and that
by the supervision which might be main
tanned by an executive bureau of the
government over their transactions II
would be possible to prevent future vio-
lations of the antitrust law by those
companies on the one hand and to Sc
cure to them a freedom from constant
fear of prosecution on the other But
| this statute would in no way be an
amendment Of the antitrust law, which
has now reached a period in its history
when it is really accomplishing the pur-
pose Of its trainers and is enforcing a re-