The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-12
SHERMAN LAW MAY CAUSE BAD FIGHT May Attempt to Repeal the
 Measure CAUSE AN UPHEAVAL Tilt Between Taft and Littleton Is Causing Rumors-Clayton ana Others Would Probably Op-
 pose Such Action
Nv SIDNEY ESPEY

President Taft and RepresentatiVe Mai tiii w rittleton over the merits of the Sher-
 man antitrust law, legislators now re-
 turning to Washington believe that bit-
 ter fight may be precipitated during the | next session of Congress through effofts | to amend the law.
 l IF may he stated in advance that cny l effort to touch the Sherman law, or to wipe it from the statute books as oe- manded by Representative Littleton' democratic member of the House. Will cause legislative upheaval.
 l The tilt between Representative Little | ton and the President, which occurred at
 the banquet rendered the chief executive
 by the Pittsburg chamber of commerce. came as a surprise not only to official l Washington and the country. but to the barouet guests as well. Representative I,ttleton was especially severe in his crit icism of the measure; President Taft just
 as strongly defended the law as being adeouate for all present day needs. | On the heels of this rather sensational battle of words comes dispatch rom Omaha to the effect that Speaker Champ l Clark, for one, does not agree with MT. l Littleton, although fellow democra'' | and that the speaker will oppose any ef- l fort to repeal the sherman law or to en-
 act another statute which may not be as | effective after trial
 l It is also known that Representative Henry D. Clayton, chairman of the House committee on judiciary, and Representa- tive William c. Adamson of Georgia l chairman of the House committee on in- | terstate and foreign commerce, who l would loom up in the event of move- l ment to repeal the law, are rather inclined
 to let we'll enough alone, and that they
 would fight any such radical propositioh as that which contemplates the undoing of a statute which has been upon the law | books for 20 years.
 Altogether it is believed rather improp- able that any change in the sherman sct will be made, especially upon the eve or another presidential election.
 AS pointed out by the President In his reply to the New York representative, the sherman law has but recently had real interpretation. For number Of years the business world has waited for the supreme court to put some definite constructor upon the law. and to interpret 1t so .nat there could be no misunderstanoihe ol us potency and intent.
 l The supreme court in the Standard OH and the Tobacco Trust cases has furnished such Interpretation. It Is still mooteo question among lawyers and legislators ds | to whether the supreme court acted Wiseiy | in writing the words reasonable" and unreasonable" into the statute, but, at any event, the department of justice mas seemed satisfied with the interpretation | of the act by the highest tribunal and that department has gone ahead with other trust-busting prosecutions. Now comes Representative Llttleton, who is forging to the front as one Of the best constitutional lawyers in the House. Representative Littleton, looking the Pres- ident in the eye at the Pittsburg banquet, declared that the sherman law was utter ly unsuited to the requirements of today, that big business could not be regulated through it and that the law ought to give way to some substitute measure. Ut seems clear to me-" said MT. Little | ton, who Is also a member of the House committee named to investigate the steel trust, that the sherman law cannot pos l sibly be made effective in the exterminat- irs of the real evil without carrying with | it too large a sacrifice of the entire indus
 
 lutely repealed and new policy or scheme of legislation inaugurated."
 Answering MT Littleton, the President, who was taken somewhat by surprise at | the suddenness of the attack upon the law which he had defended in former speeches, remarked that 'the Sherman 1 law has been on the statute books for 20
 years and has been construed and con- strued and construed, finally by the su- preme court
 ''The two decisions last spring, in my | judgment, give 1t definite meaning that any combination in restraint of trade with l the purpose of controlling prices and sti1ing competition Is a violation of the statute q know I am speaking against the l trend of many of you, but I cannot help it) The law is on the statute books and | must be enforced and this stif1ng of com petition and this control of prices must cease. I want the business men of this country to face the problem
 It will be recalled that when the su- preme court handed down its now famous decisions in the Standard oil and the Tobacco Trust cases some of the best | constitutional lawyers in both the House
 and Senate were interviewed and the rna-
 jority of them expressed the opinion that | the Sherman law would do." Prior to l these decisions there had been consider able question as to the efficiency of the | law in its final analysis and both tho | business and political world awaited the l opinion of the highest tribunal.
 l With the exception of Justice Harlan, | now dead every member of the court con- cured fin the majority opinion and Jus | tice Harlan's opinion was even more | drastic in its interpretation of the law. Justice Harlan was opposed to writing | into the law the word reasonable" his l contention being that this was an usurpa-
 tion of the legislative function.
 ] As 1t was, however, members of Con- eress, regardless of party. seemed pleased with the majority opinion of the court and did not seem to think that it weak ened the law or the possibility of its en- | forcement The department of justice
 showing its faith in the sherman statute, | immediately began other prosecutions, ending in the most sensational suit of l them all filed q few days ago against the steel trust.
 | Under these circumstances it is not thought probable in Washington that any effort to amend or repeal the Sherman law in the near future can be successful. If any amendment whatever is attempted l tie probabilities are that 1t will go to
 strengthen the law rather than to take it | from the books. which would be opposite | to the course recommended by Represent ative Littleton, who proposes new start l altogether.
 | The improbability of any amendment to l the sherman law is further emphasized l by the fact that next year comes the | presidential elections and the business will
 be unsettled anyway. Neither the 1emo- cratic nor the republican leaders desire to thrust too much to the front any talk of
 amending a statute which has been