The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-21

To q degree he IS naturally iiloi 49,
with all other cltlzens ~ "aeCl7
the steps being taken by the govern
ment with the aVoWed aim OF alS-,
solving them. AS q consumer ne mas
reason TO study their effects on prices.
AS an investor, though not deepts
concerned III them personality ne -
aware of the bad effects on business
caused by uncertainty rs TO tha-r
legality, their future, and tn imam
cial fate Of their shareholders. As
a fairly Intelligent man OF the tWSE-
tieth century, he can have NJ &c u
set aversion to that phase or the trust
which relates to increased efflciency
through improved forms of organlza-
ton. or of management in buying ana
selling, or through adopting the latest
machinery and the cheapest methods
of transportation, for these FEATURES
of production, as developed 10 lnelr
highest plane, are without doubt oes-
tined to be characteristic of the final
order of society. But whatever his
other relation to it may be, it IS as
a trade %unionist that certain partlcu-
lar results of the trust problem affect
him directly. One of these results has
been that the trade union, OF all the
nominations of the day, was the
first to be brought to under
the Sherman act. once popular with
reformerS and intended by the Gov
to be the instrument for
St1i LII t11C ttiA - O'~o
been the temporary weakening OF
several national trade unions through
systematic Vaccinations of the trusts
on a scale not possible to any but
multi-millionaire organizations.
The course of the series Of events
relating to the Sherman antitrust act
which ended in the conviction Of trade
%unionists as the only malefactors UNI
der it's operations up to nearly two
decades after it's passage, woul serve
to confirm the cynical observation
that under the law might makes right
and that no matter whom a statute
is aimed at, the laboring man is sure
to be the one it strikes.
It is the testimony of the officials
Of the American Federation Of Labor
at headquarters, and Of the labor leg
~islative committeeman of that day
that in 1890, at the time of the pas
sage of the Sherman act, it was un-
derstood that the proposed statute
should not apply to h trade union.
''The bill in it's first stages" states
President Gompers, contained a sec
ton affirmatively declaring that the
organizations Of working people in
stituted for the purpose Of regulat-
ing wages, hours Of labor, and condi-
tons of employment, should not come
under the operations of the proposed
law" And when that section was
under consideration in Congress SEN
S1tOI SCOl Sc. VI NliSSlSSlp pl, d1O CCIld-
tor HOar, of Massachusetts, in reply
TO inquiries, said that they were the
satisfied that labor organizations
would not fall under the law, if en-
acted in that form. The bill, after
being referred to a committee, was
reported back witli the section
dropped, but were given
by Senators Hoar, George, Blair,
Sherman and others hat organized
labor was not to come under the pro-
visions of the statute.
In the twenty years since the law
was passed. the trusts of manufacture
ers and business men have developed
IN this country as never before. Not
until within the last few months has
the Sherman act seriously
enced n of them. Even now, as
matters stand, none Of the trust
makers, as such, nave gone to jail.
Their punishment through the law
mas not destroyed their real powers
OF Capitalization, the source of their
strength. The worst that is happening
TO any of the big combinations is "a
readjustment of organization to CON
form 10 recent interpretations Ofsthe
sherman law" or "a separation.
through legal FORMS. of the offending
gorporttion into its constituent parts"
Inls, While public assurance is given
by an attorney of national reputation.
WHO IS a trust expert, that the most
eHectlve OF all temporary price ar
iahSeIiieHtS are reached by barely
more than a word or a sign and are
known as 'gentlemen's
Ihose newspapers which are COM
monty regarded as representative Of
Dig business refer with mock respect
70 the Sherman statute when speak
ing OF the dissolution of several of the
trusts now taking place under its
menace, The form of enforcing a
law IS there; substance in the econom
&c ang effected is acking. 1.-The
Jaws or trade cannot be overruled by
Congress;' Combination in form MAJ
De FORBIDDEN; ownership in fact car
not be prevented" 1t would be Gu
riouSl indeed II one man with a hun
ored millions might legally owr
an industry, n control it's methods
OF production n distribution. while
Two men. as a trust, might not. So
ali told. who expects real competition
10 De restored in the Industries which
IN their ORGANIZATIONS have approach