Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-09-19

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
am glad to think that business men
who have been violating the trust law
are now being made to see the neces-
sity for putting their houses In order,
changing their original organizations,
giving ND the idea that it Is necessary
to control markets in order to make
profits, and reverting to the old princ1-
nile of free competition, In which all
limit upon it to prevent it's being ex-
cessive must be self-imposed by the
good sense of each competitor and not
by any arrangement or contract oe-
tween competitors or secret st1pula-
ton or wink or nod.
| Decisions Sound kneIl Of Trusts.
The decision Of the supreme court
as it grows to be understood IN the
near future will be signal. for the
voluntary breaking up all combinations
in restraint of trade within the inhibl-
ton of the statute, and Will, l nope,
! lead to complete revulsion OF feeling
on the part of the business men or
this country and to clear understand
ing by them of the limitations that
must be imposed by them upon any
business combinations made by them
in the future The operation OF the
statute has illustrated the slowness
of judicial procedure, and Of this have
4 often made complaint; but In the set
Element of issues Of this Importance
two decades are no great length of
time, and if in that period we shall
have stamped out an evil which would
certainly have carried us to socialism
as a reaction from the vicious control
of the few, the, time spent, the effort.
and the litigation are worth the cost
There have been times when among
others have thought that the enforce
ment of the law might have been faci-
litated had the courts visited it's breach
with severer punishment, but Though
the mills of the gods grind slowly, yet
they grind exceeding small, and
without the severity that some Of us
urged and would have been glad to
see used, a revolution in business
methods where they have heretofore
been violative of the statute will be
accomplished, and with least distur-
ance to business which Is lawful
In a special message on the subject
Of trusts which l sent to congress
January 7, 1910, said: -..
1t Is tho duty and the purpose Of
the executive to direct an investi-
cation by the department Of Justice,
through the grand jury or other
wise, into the history, organiza-
ton, and purposes Of all the indus
trial companies with respect to ~
which there is any reasonable
ground for suspicion that they
have been organized for purpose,
and are conducting business on
plan which is In violation of the
antitrust law. The work is a
heavy one, but it is not beyond
the power of the department of
Justice If sufficient funds are furn-
isher to carry on the nvestiga-
tons and to pay the counsel en-
gagged in the work.
wish to repeat this now, and to say
further that the attorney, general has
| instituted lnVeStlSdt1OIlS llltO oil tHe
industrial companies above described,
and that these are In various stages
of completion.
Oppose Amendment Of Law.
| Under these conditions, I am en-
tirely opposed to an amendment of
the antitrust law. 1t is now a valu-
able government asset and instrument.
Tested and brought into practical and
beneficial use by 20 years of litigation
| and construction by the highest court,
why should we imperil it's usefulness
by experiments? The outcry sought
to be raised in some quarters, followed
by proposals of amendments prepared
without a real understanding of the
law or the courts decisions, may serve
the purpose of promoting unreason-
able and unreasoning discomfort, but
certainly ought not to be considered
seriously.
| When an amendment is proposed, let
the proponent state the defect in the
statute the amendment is to remedy,
and how it will effect it.
| If the avowed purpose is to make
| il impossible to use reason in the con-