The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-21
Corporations Entitled to Know When They Are
 Violating Laws
POINTS OUT FLAWS
 IN SHERMAN ACT
Thinks Public Generally Benefited By Elimination of Disastrous Com petition-Cites Shoe Trade
 as an Example
By JOHN II. HAsAN President National Boot and shoe Mrn-

By JOHN H. HANAN President National Boot and shoe Men-
 ufacfurers' Association
 New York, November 20.-I am oso fasn- toned enough to believe in competition-- not the destructive kind. that tries to ruin the market for everynody. but nor nal. healthy, wide awake competition that seeks to win trade on it's merits, and which has placed the American jmanufacturer in thee forefront in the trade competition of the world.
 President Taft has recently been preaching to business men the advaa- tages of competition. If tie President menas by competition the kind of coui- petition that business men mean-narne- ly: fair, normal, healthy competition. carried on free from the restraint of monopolistic control on the hand and free from harrassing lawsuits by the government on tie other hand-l heartily agree with him. Such compe- tition has never harmed the business man or the consumer.
 If. however President Taft means conn petition carried on with the constant liability to prosecution by the govern- ment under law so vague in it's terms that for % years no one has known just what it means. then [ must express my dissent.
 Tyranny Under Form of Law
 Business carried on in the constant fear of harassing lawsuits by the govern- ment can no more continue In normal competitive condition than can busi- ness which is carried on under the snad- ow of a great monopoly. Tyranny un- der the form of law is no less tyran- nous. than tyranny in the form of com mereial trust.
 While tfe decisions of the supreme court in the Standard oil and Tobacco cases meet with general approval in so far as they find the companies en5cpped guilty of acts corlewpea and forbidden il,y gfa snet9rau lFw tlies sltills Ssage oper to controyei'sy tlie question as to whether. or not the Sherman anti-trust law is or is not q good thing for the 1 United States of America and the ques- tion as to whether or not the reason-. ing of the supreme court is or is not calculated to benefit future economic conditions.
 Defect in Sherman Act Tbe one thing about the opinions which, to my mind. Is particularly dis tasteful is the fact that according to them, while the Sherman act makes a violation of it's provisions criminal yet man or group of men cannot. until a court has passed upon the question, ascertain whether step contemplated is criminal or innocent. Such ia state of affairs ought never to exist
 Criminal laws should lay down rules so definite and certain and so easily ascertained and understood that every | f,, 1f.rl,t derstanding and know just what he may do and may not do.
 It is obvious that there Is an over- whelming tendency toward the combina- ton of industrial and economic forces. It is utter folly for the state or the na- tion to attempt to restrain or to dam up the current of events 1t is just as impossible to resolve the present business and economic conditions into the inde- pendent entities which ceased 100 years ago as it is to resolve our present civlli- zation into the barbarous elements of the. harbarous past. Questions Ruling of Court | That we are benefited by such an elim- nation of competition is recognized by every thinking man. That there are dan CTS in it goes without saying and that in the process some few may be able to enrich themseves far beyond their deserts. is the danger to be guarded against
 l do not believe the sherman act is "a perfect, instrument. l do not believe the opinions in the Standard oil and Tobacco cases represent the most per- feet means to preserve the good and eradicate the evil. l do not believe that our experience or our knowledge is com plete enough to enable any set of men to draw a perfect act or to interpret any act in a perfect way.
 I believe in federal regulations l do not believe in state supervision, State boundaries have long ago become com mercially non-existent Rapid transport tation, the telephone the telegraph and the United States mails have annihated the distinction between the states of the union., from commercial stand point.
 Nation an Industrial Unit
 This nation of ours Is an industrial unit. a commercial whole. The difference between the laws of the various states in the domain of business and coma merce are already too perplexng and annoying We have gone far enough in the direction of confusion. We ought not to be subjected to 20 or more differ ent rules on the question of eombina- ton. There can only be one rule which is right. All others must be in some measure wrong.
 Just what the supervision or regula- ton should be. just what it's limits should  be, are questions which it is impossfnlef for any man to answer, but if the govern- ment is sincerely seeking a. solution of the problem it can find pattern for emulation right at hand.
 Shoe Business an Example
 It happens that in the shoe business, in which have been engaged all my life, a condition exists which might well serve as an example to every other in- dustry, if the situation in other indus tries were such that they could adopt the system which has met with this pro- nounced success.
 In the boot and shoe business there is not and never has been trust. The output of shoes in the United States is manufactured by more than 1200 inde- pendent concerns, and the ffust form of control has never been able to make any headway
 According to the census reports just s-f
 
 (CONTINUED ON FACE 8