Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1911-06-15
DIVIDENDS THE
TRUST medicine
JUDGE GROSSCUP PRESENTS NEW
HANDLING METHOD.
ANTITRUST LAW unable
FHNOrs National COntrOl-Drt lurcs lie
Is Proposing Nothing
Really Complex

ANNh N.''FH 800 - Hl' q ~. 'tAN ''in
the sherman act, "eyeu as now in
terpreted, an ineffective remedy in
the Just complaint of the ordinary
Peter S. Grosscup, of the United
Peter s. BroSscup Of the United
States Circuit Court of Appeals, pro-
posed in the commencement address
before the University Of Iowa today
a new method of dealing with trusts
ITO recognize combination and mo-
nopoly as something necessarily here
square the law to the fact-and
then, as condition to granting cor
porate power to ALL reserve the right
to regulate dividends" is the remedy
Judge Grosscup advances.
Judge Grosscup's discussion Of the
remedy proposed by him was pre-
faced by a review of the sherman
act In which he said:
"As interpreted prior to May Of this
year the Sherman Antitrust act was
believed to be a weapon in the hands
of the men who happened TO con-
stitute the administration at Wash
ington 10 destroy such specific mo-
nopolies and combinations os the ad-
ministration chose to consider hurt
full to competition In enterprise, In
stead the sherman act became a
sunken mine, over which nearly ev-
cry form OF enterprise had to sail
the fuse that would set it off, or keep
it harmless. running direct to the
office OF the Attorney General at
Washington
But will big business" continued
Judge Grosscup, with no restraint
hanging over it other than the Sher-
man act as now interpreted, desst
from being brutal? VIII one of these
big business enterprises caught now
and then employing the prohibited
accessory methods and ordered to re-
habiltate, as the Standard on and
Tobacco combinations have been or
dered to rehabilitate, prevent Others
from taking their chances along the
same lines, or from taking chances
along other lines? Revertlng to his
remedy the Judge continued:
But to which government, the ma
tional or the state, shall be given the
power to apply the remedy? My an
swer is, that, in the case of the big
so-called trusts, such, for instance,
as the packers or the Standard OIL
Company the bulk of those raw ma
terials drawn from states other than
the company's domicile, or the bulk
nf ,,,ha ffn1gha1 ,.rA1npt 10 cold In
states other than the company's dom
iclle, thereby bringing their business
into interstate commerce, the prlncl-
pal | am urging should be applied
by the national government, through
such processes as will make II prac-
tically compelling that enterprises of
this kind organize as corporations un-
der the United States laws
"To that extent, at least, | am for
the new nationalism. BY the hand of
single sovereignty, and that the
supreme sovereignty. can the princi-
pie, II semes to me, be effectively
applied to the big so-called trusts
But this does not mean that the
smaller manufacturing and trading
corporations in any given field of en-
terprise should be nationally incor-
porated From these arises no mo-
nopoly, And where, among these
smaller concerns, combinations arise
in unreasonable restraint of trade,
the Sherman act as now interpreted
would probably be sufficient
but where should be run the line
of separation, YOU ask, between those
to be nationally incorporated and
those left to the states; and how sep
arate those to whom restriction as
to dividends Is to he applied from
those to whom it is not applied
though nationally incorporated. My
answer Is that national incorporation
should depend on whether the bust
ness involved is chiefly national OF
chiefly local---a feasible measure of
whole business that is local and the
percentage that Is not local: and that
whether the restriction as to divi-
dends should apply or not should de-
pend on whether the business, In It's
special field of enterprise, practically
whether II does not--a feasibl,
measure of this being the percentage
OF the whole business OF that field
that is done by the company in
volved In other words, II the bulk
Of the business of the company il
national, let the nation be the parent
and regulator of the corporate ad
vantages under which II is conducted
and II II absorbs enough OF the bus.
mess OF the line in which II is en-.
gagged to enable 1t to throw off ef.
fective competition; let the principle
of fair dividends be applied
The national bureau OF corpora
tions has already access to informa.
ton that will show that these per.
cehtages are. Whatever may be de.
ficent can be easily supplied | vii
not undertake to say here what shoulC
be the precise percentage that woult
bring the corporation within natlona
control; II Is enough to say that 4
should be large enough to make III
business really national business
and in determining between business
that Is local and business that is ma
tional contiguous state or state
might properly be counted TO b,
within the field OF the locality; for ,
business near the line OF states ma!
ha ,aoa tba loaa raallv Iooat hanaua.