The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-11-17
REGULATE TRUSTS
DECLARES ROOSEVELT
Ex-President Says That Is the Only
Way to Handle the Problem, Not
Solely BY Resort to Law

suits.
New York, Nov. ,l7.-Recent litiga-
ton and legislation to regulate the
trusts is discussed, and remedy TO
meet the present situation is suggest
ed by Theodore Roosevelt in an edi-
torial entitled "The Trusts, the People,
and the Square Deal" published this
week in The Outlook, "The suit against
the steel trust by the government" Mr..
Roosevelt begins, "has brought WILDLY
before our people the need of reducing
to order our chaotic government policy
as regards business" He concludes with
the following recommendation,
"The national government exercises
control over interstate commerce rail-
ways, and 1t can in similar fashion.
through an appropriate governmental
body, exercise control over all indus
trial organizations engaged in interstate
commerce. This control should be exer-
cised, not by the courts, but by an adj
ministrative bureau or board such as
the bureau of corporations or the in
terstate commerce commissions; for the
courts cannot with advantage perma.
nently perform executive and admins
trative functions"
Before taking up his general theme
Mr.. Roosevelt pauses to deny that the
representatives Of the steel corporation
misled him while he was president.
1T has been alleged that the purchase
by the steel corporation of the property
Of the Tennessee Coal and Iron comnany
gave the steel corporation practically a
monopoly OF the southern iron ores
that Is, of the iron ores south of the
Potomac and the Ohio. My information.
which | have every reason to believe is
accurate and not successfully TO be chal.
lenged, is that, of these southern iron
ores the steel corporation has, includ-
ing the property gained from the Ten.
nessee Coal and Iron company, less than
20 per eent.-perhaps not over Is per
cent. This is very much smaller per.
centage than the percentage il holds Of
the Lake Superior ores, which even aft
err the surrender Of the Hill lease will
be slightly over so per cent.
According to my view, therefore, and
unless--which ] do not believe possible
these figures can be successfully chal.
lenged, the acquisition Of the Tennes-
see Coal and Iron company'rs ores in
no way changed the situation as regards
making the steel corporation monop.
oily The showing as to the percentage
OF reduction of all kinds of steel ingots
and steel castings in the United States
by the steel corporation and by all 9TH
er manufacturers respectively makes an
even stronger case. It makes the case
even stronger than | put it in my tes-
tmony before the investigating COM
mittee, for | was scrupulously careful
TO make statements that erred, if at all,
against my own position"
Returning to the main subject, Mr..
Roosevelt continues;
TO attempt to meet the whole prob
lem not by administrative governmental
action but by a succession of lawsuits
IS hopeless from the standpoint of work
ing out a permanently satisfactory so.
luton. Moreover, the results sought to
be achieved are achieved only in extremely |
insufficient and fragmentary measure
by breaking up all big corporations.
they have behaved well or i'll |
into a number Of little corporations
which it is perfectly certain viii be |
largely, and perhaps altogether, under
Z he same control. Such action is harsh |
and misehievous if the corporation is
guilty of nothing except its size; and |
where, as in the case of the STANDARD |
Oil, and especially the tobacco. trusts. |
the corporation has been guilty OF inn
moral and anti-social practices, there is |
need for far more drastic and thorough |
going action than any that has been
taken, under the recent decree of the |
supreme court
SIN the case Of the tobacco trust. for
instance, the settlement in the circuit |
court, in which the representatives Of |
the government seem inclined to con-
eur, practically leaves all of the COM
panies still substantially under the con-
troll Of twenty-nine original defendants I
Such a result is lameutable from the
-tandpoint of Justice The decision of /
the circuit court, If allowed to stand,
means that the tobacco trust has mere
w been obliged to change its clothes,
that none OF the real offenders have re-
'eived any real punishment.
Surely, miscarriage Of Justice is not
Too strong a term to apply to such a
result when considered in connection
with what the supreme court said of
his trust.
"The effort to prohibit all combina-
ions, good or bad, is bound to fail and
ought to fail; when made. It merely
means that some of the worst combine
ions are not checked and that honest
business is checked, Our purpose should
De, not to strangle business as an in
'ident of strangling combinations, but
20 regulate big corporations in thorough
yoing and effective fashion. so as to
]elp legitimate business as an incident
o thoroughly-and completely safeguard
ng the interests Of the people as a
whole.
Few viii dispute the fact that the
present situation is not satisfactory,
md cannot be put on permanently
b;fsis unless we put an end
o the period Of cropping and declare for
fixed policy, policy which shall
Hearty define and punish wrongdoing.
which shall put a stop to the iniquities
lone in the name Of business, but which
hall be strict equity to business. We
demand that big business give the peo-
lie q square deal; in return we must
INSIST that when any one engaged in
zig business honestly endeayors to do
light he shall himself be given square
Ieal and the first, and most elementary /
lind of square deal is to give him in
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