The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-06
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 6. 1911.
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
The first message of the president
to congress yesterday did not carry
the Importance usually attached tc
the annual message transmitted a,
the opening of the regular session m
December, because 1t was devoted
entirely to the consideration of one
public questionable trusts. Usually
those annual messages cover the ad-
ministration's plans for the year. and
thus become the, public trail blazer
of the party to which the president
belongs. This one is as much retro
spectivc as prospective on the b
ject discussed.
The president offers little informa-
ton that is not already public on the
trust question. He reviews the court
decisions in the dissolution cases and
upholds the judgment Of the supreme
court. In his particular he will find
a reasonable endorsement among
thinking men both In and out. Of the
law. He will find some opposition.
Men will question the courts inter-
probation of the statute until the pub
lie mind becomes accustomed to the
conditions which that decision pro-
duced. There will be opposition from
men like w. j. Bryan who has so de-
veloped his opposition brain lobe
that anything not first published in
the Commoner is corrupt and destruc-
tive of freedom n good govern
ment. Such opposition counts moth
ing when seeking h merits Of a con-
tention.
The president points out that we
have been twenty-one years in reach
ing the point where the courts are
willing to enter DEGREES dissolving the
trusts. He might have gone farther
and said tina for half of that period
the Sherman antitrust law was a
dead letter on the statute books and
no effort was made to enforce it's
provisions. The the courts under the
present law go farther in reaching
after combinations in restraint Of
trade than they did under the COM
mon law is true as the president say
This is probably the reason Why some
of the opposition to the courts die
tum is not satisfactory to a part of
the public.
The dissolution of the trusts by de-
crees in equity. the president declares,
is the remed. under the present law.
1t is commended that the criminal
punishment of those guilty of form
ing or directing the combinations in
erstraint of trade would be more eff
fective than the dissolution decree
against the trust itself. The president
on this score says:
Juries have felt averse to con-
victing for Jail sentences and
Judges have been most reluctant
>to impose such sentences on men
of respectable standing in So
ciety whose offense has been re-
garded as merely statutory.
This weakness in both human ma
ture and the courts the president in
dictates will be overcome:
AS the offense becomes better
understood and the committing
Of it partakes more of studied
and deliberate defiance Of law.
Thus in the presidents view, the
successful enforcement of the stat
ute is a matter Of evolution. Fol not
only in the criminal clause but in the
other features Of the law the courts
AVE gradually moved upward from
ShC IAil1Slll case : WHICH SoemlnGlN
RENTED to the states the power to
regulate trusts. The policy OF hast
ening that evolution is suggested in
the plans of improving the machin-
cry of the executive and judicial
branches of the government.
1t is pointed out in the message
that many Of the trusts are now re-
organizing and adjusting themselves
to the conditions determined by the
courts. In a word. 1t is said the law
Is becoming self e%xecutory, and If
this result is accomplished the trust
problem will be solved. That the
policy OF the government has been
to distribute and not to confscate
property. the president holds is the
basic principle of the antitrust war.
AS to the future, the president is
not in sympathy with the proposed
repeal of the law because he SAYS.
those who have urged it's repeal have
not offered anything tangible to take
Its place. He admits that supple
mental legislation is needed to
strengthen the law. as 1t now stands,
One of such props is a provision maxi
Ing it unlawful to. undersell a COM
petitor at ruinous prices for the pur.
pose OF driving him out Of business.
This idea with the one Of preventing
extortionate high prices by agree
.ment seems to point pretty close to
h arbitrary fixing of prices by the
government on trust products.
The old recommendations for fed
eral incorporation is urged with
some additional details, and a federal
corporation commission is proposcd
which shall have specific control owe,
The corporations formed under tn,
federal charter law.
1t would seem that some of tho
things which most need ]re,nedying ir
The trust question have not received
Che attention OF the president. One
1T the greatest drawbacks Of tho
present trust dissolution system I.
the cumbrous methods that are nee.
tsssary. The reader will remembe,
how long it has been since the sui,
was first filed against the STANDARD
oil company: he will. remember the
thousands Of, pages of testimony TAX
en- by Special Attorney kellogg be,
fore the case was. ready for a hear.
fng. These things were necessary .tc
reach the truth and under the pres.
ant system no shorter method, eithe,