The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-20
GOVERNOR BALDWIN AND HIS DENUNCIATION OF THE
 SHERMAN LAW-WHAT !,
 DOES IT MEAN?


 Governor Baldwin, in his address before the State Business Men,
 went further in denunciation of the sherman Law, than almost any
 other man in high public life. His views may be said to be the con-
 servative and traditional views of
 the American business man. He, pointed out, some conditions exist Ing in Connecticut. and drew from E esn an Sfnferehce that the sher- 3fah law is not good for the coun- Hy. It cannot be said, however.
 that because a Torrington busi- ness man was arrested under the law, and would have gone to jail. had not. the judge who. sentenced him believed he followed the ad- vice of his lawyer, that. therefore. a5e fisherman law should be repeal SSenS C
 Nbr is 1t conclusive to the point that President Roosevelt once or .dersd. tho prosecution of the New Haven Railroad, and that the or dor was withdrawn
 First. it would have to be decid-
 ithat the Torrin8tqn business
 ah was not guilty d ah offense which was socially injurious, and which should have been forbidden by lav.
 The same test applies to the, in-a dictment. of the railroad, and the qusstionz would not be affected by faocilation upon the part of the trosecutor.
 It is not impossible to devise test by which men can array themselves upon the question the Governor discussed.
 Until within few years the business of the world has been done. in competition. Manufactur- : c, for instance. were divided : among a multitude of owners. Be . ginning during, or just after the period of the Civil War, these units : of manufacture began to- grow. big . ger. The railroads, trolley lines and steamships pasSsd <feN sinde- pendent control int6 MsT TsMohHrol of comparatively, a few persons. Resulted, such aggregations of wealth as the Standard Oil and the United States Steel Company.
 A further result was the extinc- tion of many small men as busi- ness forces. and a growing belief that the new order of things meant the end of competition and the conduct of business by great ag- gregations of capital
 confined to manufacturing busi- ness and transportation, opposition to combination was not sufficient to produce much legislation o9 restrictive nature. But when it began to be seen that retail bus iness was likely to be affected, when the syndicate store began to arrive, and the little business man began to believe that his opportun- ity to do business was diminish ing, an outburst of indignation pro- duced the Sherman law.
 The Sherman law was an effort. to restore the old competitive con- dition. It made any combination in restraint of trade a crime.
 Almost 20 years have passed since the sherman law was writ ten. Until within a few years it had never been enforced. But the lines were being more tightly drawn. Combinations ,:were grow ing in number and strength. The smaller owners of capital were confronted by a power which threatened to annihilate them 2 Now a condition of combination represents control by a few. But government in this country is by the ballots of the many There fore the small business men, being much more numerous, have strength at the polls in excess of their gigantic rivals. Hence Con- gress. and elective officers gener- ally, turned to the small business men a heedful ear.
 In this way the natter stood un- til the recent decision of the Su- preme court of the United States, which took the Sherman law and by judicial legislat ation changed it so that 1t no longer stands as statute forbiddine all comhiua-