The Washington times., 1911-08-14
GREAT ECONOMIC
QUESTION TO COME
BEFORE CONGRESS
Statesmen Must Decide
Theory of Competition
in Business.
TWO ALTERNATIVES
NOW CONFRONTED
Either Monopoly Must Receive
Government License, or Forced
Competition Be Invoked.
By JUDSON C. wELLIvER.

Is competition worth saving7 Or Is
there power enough in Government to
save It?
Has the time come when combina-
| ton, coordination, consolidation must
be recognized as the destiny of the
business world in future?
Are we to have monopoly, under regu-
lation. or another period of effort.
through antitrust laws and the like,
to compel competition?
Such are the fundamental, vital ques-
tiones which will be taken up for
serious consideration when, on Novem-
Der Is, the Senate Committee on In
terstate Commerce assemblies IN Wash
lngton for a long series of hearings
preparatory to developing a business
control policy for the nation. The
future of the antitrust act will hang
in the balance.
1t is proposed to get the best opinion
in the country as to the course which
future governmental policy ought to
take. Judge Gary, George w. Perkins,
and other eminent advocates of indus
trial freedom under governmental con-
troll, will be invited to develop their
Ideas to the uttermost extent These
men have taken the position that COM
cannot be enforced; that II is contrary
to the laws Of both the natural and
the social world; that II is destructive
and anti-social
On the other hand, those old fash
ioned economists who stand on the
ancient adage that competition is
the life Of trade" will be asked to
present their case, and especially, to
suggest methods by which competi-
tion can be preserved and compelled
20 40 hn lob Ha 1ak
of economists apportioned to II.
Is Competition Dead?
These will be the most important
hearings that have been conducted
by any Government authority in many
years" declared a member of the In
terstate Commerce Committee today.
The question has been brought fair
ly before the country, whether we
shall try to preserve and strengthen
the old order, or whether we shall
admit that despite all efforts at its
preservation, competition has died
and connOt be resuscitated."
That this acute issue must ultimate
ly be presented for the decision of
the men who make national politics,
has been apparent for a number of
OH and Tobacco Trust cases, together
with the persistent, vigorous efforts
of the Taft Administration to enforce
the sherman act. have brought the
time.
The Administrat tion's policy of en-
forcing the antitrust act is criticised
from many points of view. Some of
the men who insist that they fully
believe in the policy of that law. pro
test that President Taft and his At
torney General are playing favorites
IN the1r prosecutions; that they are
using the law for political ends: that
they are Furnishing here. terrorizing
there running amuck in another
quarter; but that their activities are
not designed to develop the best pos
slDil'ues OF the system Of enforcing
ana protecting competition as the ma
tural law OF business life
That business is confronted bv nm
certainty, insecurity, and-the constant
fear of interference at any turn. has
been pointed out lately with the ut
most candor by such men as Messrs.
Perkins and Gary: and their statements
consideration. The prejudice that
Few years ago would have been aroused
against whatever proposal such men OF
great affairs would advance has been
notably absent.
There has been apparent an openness
OF mind, candor of consideration, a sin
certify of purpose to learn the truth and
do the right thing. such has never he
tore attended consideration Of the
issues relating to great consultations
Of capital and business.
Welcomed By Socialists.
These men who insist that business
shall be permitted to organize itself
in whatever forms and aggregations
prove most practicable, and that. thus
organized, II shall be subjected to the
most detailed public supervision. are
of course largely in harmony with the
socialists. So IT falls out that Messrs,
Perkins and Gary have received 0tost
glowing Endorsements from many of the
most radical sociologists and econ
omists. They have been hailed as the
real prophets of the new economic re-
ltgion; the men who not only believe,
but have proved their faith by their
works. It is curious new alignment,
and its significance is the subject of
widespread inquiry among public men,
At any rate the weeks since the two
great trust decisions have brought Con-
gress to accept that something must
be done. The antitrust act must be
either wiped out, and regulatory meas
ures substituted; or else 1t must be
strengthened so that 1t will actually
serve its avowed purpose of preserving
competition. Between these two op-
posing views of a proper policy, the
contest will be waged, first in the hear
ings that are to begin next November.
and later in the halls of Congress.