The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-28

What the people are suffering se ths hands of the trusts is the ezeex~fys prices paid by consumers and the Se~ pressed prices which the trusts foTce producers and employees f0 acceD< fs~ raw material and labor. If fs iris pow CT to fix prices by unfair ezc5asBoa Of competitors that gives to them fae power to maintain high market vs5zs for their stocks and bonds, and wafrr
 Is in excess of the true value Of their property.
 The real question that the Te6erz1
 courts have put up to the Ar1er5ean people is this: How to dfstfuz1feh f,e-
 tween honest Investments that benefit
 the public and yfeId q fair profit, ard
 the value of criminal conspiracy nat
 exploits the public and yields a eT1ns- nal profit. No system of Geensinz CT
 incorporation will be submitted fo fssf
 fastens on to the people these illegal ana cr1ns nal profits. If security and certainty Of investments are aske9 for these will be granted only on c0ndf4Sors that the investments are Honest and
 reasonable. A Federal license CT Fsd- eral incorporation will not restore ffe original kind of competition before ffe
 trust was formed, but win fastea dop8
 this new Lind of fictitious, n1onopos Izs1 common-ownershfp competition. TT4 corporation that wants to advertise se investors that it has a Federal Jcszse or Federal charter and is fbers<eTs safe, must first let investors know tvsf how much they are expected to pay t0- ward honest investment that the o11p4 will recognize, and how much they
 are asked to pay for monopoly power
 that will not permanently be submit ted to.
 There are two vital questions r@-
 garefng prices. Are they too high ov
 700 low, as affecting consumers ard
 producers, and are they too hfxn e
 too low, as affecting competitors nat is, whether the competitors are forced out of the business by unfair and dss- criminatory prices, or whether they are forced out by fair contracts based on prices that are the result Of greater economy and efficiency?
 An example of unfair and 6iscTsns- snatory prices Is the practice so bru-
 tally employed by the Standard O1 Company of cutting prices in local markets invaded by small competitors, while keeping up prices in other mar kets not so invaded. Another exam
 pie is that of making a lower pr5cs to the purchaser who does not buy of competitor than the price demanded if he buys also of a competitor. These are not prices based on the economy and efficiency of a great corporation. but prices used as a club to kill corr- petitors and then to be followed by higher prices. Several of these meth ods of unreasonable restraint Of trace are specified and prohibited in the bfz witch I introduced in the Senate. Au- gust 19, 1911 (sixty-second Congress. first session, S. 3z71 AdSsftoraT methods might be discovered on fr1es- tigation, and should be prohibited The bi-I provides for their Dunishmeas
 when discovered and found to De 1n- reasonable.
 The bill also provides for permitting reasonable agreements that prevent the abuses of free competition, but 6o not fnjure the public by tending to- ward monopoly. Everybody recog- nizes that there are thorsands os trade agreements that are beneficial ers' organizations, merchants assoc5s- tions, credit associations, cooperative societies, marketing associations and many other defensive or mutual or against the oveTnnasteTins power of great mpnopoIies or against z1scTu~ pulous competitors or customers. havs heen attacked or may be attacked in the courts on an reasonable infer pretation Of the law The a1ti-truse law should not take away from ths people their right to associate and deal collectively wherever their dealings are req sonable and not injurious to Srs reasonable claims Of others Trese are questions of fact, to be dete-mf1e1 | by investigation as they arise, ard ths new interpretation Of tbe law by rae courts makes s-ch investigator pos- Sb'e and necessary.
 How shall the antitrust law be e1- forced under these new co75ItiousS The people, through Congress, u57sr have their own commission. Tt would differ from the Interstate Co-n11e-cs Commission in that t would not rsg1- late prices, but would re required e invest tigate, ascertain, and p~o5F5ft a1 of those methods of unfair cornoe1ssIo7 that would come under the deSJ15s70n Of "unreasorabIe restraints Of 1Ta1e.~
 A commission can make f1VesTfx7~ tion on it's own initiative IL 10 5s public hearines. All sides are heard It has its staff of experts, arco11tanrss and enefneers to examine books ma <s valuations, and ascertain all oe the facts. The facts which ft finds ars prinna facfe evidence in court. Tt s a kind Of standing rsferee to tse courts It should have The power to ascertain and dfs'ingufsh 5e4wesr tflos1 restraints that are Teaso1a5ts and necessary 70 pro-ect honest i1vssf- r1ents, and those restraints fbst 4rs unrea sonstIe. Tn that they merely ez- c1ude competitors, lead to sxco-s551- ate prices, Or protect rDonoposy F719es of stocks and bonds.