Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-09-18

lated monopoly and the nxing of prices
| by governmental authority are con-
| sistent with future progress. We did
get along with competition; we can
get along with it. We did get along
without monopoly; we can get along
| without It; and the business men OF
to that necessity. Either that, or we
must proceed to state socialism and
vest the government with power to
run every business. The decision of
the supreme court is in the highest
interest of the public, and I am glad
| to think that business men who have
| been violating the trust law are now
being made to see the necessity for
putting their houses in order, chang
ing their original organizations, Civ.
ing up the idea that it is necessary
to control markets in order to make
profits, and reverting to the old prin.
ciple of free competition, in which all
limit upon it to prevent it being ex-
cessive must be self-imposed by the
good sense of each competitor and not
by any arrangement or contract be.
tween competitors or secret stipula'
ton or wink or nod.
The decision of the supreme court
as 1t grows to be understood In the
near future wiz be signal for the
voluntary breaking up all combina.
tions in restraint of trade with the
inhibition of the statute, and will, l
hope, lead to a complete revulsion Of
feeling on the part of the business
men of this country and to clear un-
derstanding by them Of the limitations
that must be imposed by them upon
any business combinations made by
them in the future. The operation of
the statute has illustrated the SLOW
ness Of judicial procedure, and of
this have often made complaint;
but in the settlement of issues of this
importance two decades are no great
length Of time, and If in that period
we shall have stamped out an evil
which would certainly have carried
us to socialism as a reaction from the
vicious control of the few, the time
spent, the effort, and the litigation
are worth the cost. There have been
times when among others I have
thought that the enforcement Of the
law might have been facilitated had
the courts visited its breach with
severer punishment, but Though the
mills of the gods grind slowly they
grind exceeding small" and without
the severity that some of US urged,
and would have been glad to see used,
revolution in business methods
where they have heretofore been VOL
alive Of the statute will be accom-
plished, and with least disturbance to
business which Is lawful.
In a special message on the subject
of trusts which l sent to Congress ::
January z, 1910, I said:
1t is the duty and the purpose of
the executive to direct an investiga.
tion by the department of justice,
through the grand jury or otherwise,
into the history, organization and pur-
poses of all the industrial companies,
with respect to which there is any
reasonable ground for suspicion that
they have been organized for a pur.
pose, and are conducting business on
a plan which is in violation of the an
thrust law. The work is heavy one,
but it is not beyond the power Of the
of justice If sufficient
funds are furnished to carry on the
Investigations and to pay the counsel
engaged In the work.
wish to repeat this now and to say
further that the attorney general has
instituted Investigations into all the
Industrial companies above described,
and that these are in various stages
If completion.
Under these conditions l am entire.
y opposed to an amendment of the
antitrust law. It Is now valuable
government asset and instrument.
Tested and brought into practical and
beneficial use by twenty years Of liti.
cation and construction by the highest
court, why should we imperil it's use.
illness by experiments? The outcry
sought to be raised In some quarters,
ollowed by proposals of amendments
without a real understand
ne of the law or the courts decisions.
nay serve the purpose of promoting
and unreasoning discon-
ent, but certainly ought not to be
considered seriously.
When an amendment is proposed,
ct the proponent state the defect in
he statute the amendment is to rem
,dy, and how it will effect it.
If the avowed purpose is to make it
to use reason in the con-
'truction of the. statute as the su-
'reme court did, let the mover of the
formulate a case Of re-
'traint of interstate trade not con-
1emned under the supreme courts
of the statute, which
,ught to be condemned. Let US avoid
general expressions. Let US avoid