Graham guardian., 1912-02-16
SIMPLY ENFORCE LAW
EFFECTIVE METHOD OF DEALING
WITH TRUST PROBLEM.
"PlAslng Of Competition" Of Which
20 Much Has Been Made, Exists
Chiefly In the Imagination
OF Those Who Wish Il.

Many eminent gentlemen have re-
Gently assured us that the days of
competition have forever gone by.
Judge Gary would recognize that sup
posed fact. and entrust to the govern
ment the great task of seeing that
there is fair play. Mr.. Carnegie takes
much the same view. Mr.. Perkins ad-
vocates business court" which shall
tell Big Business what 1t may and
may not do Mr.. William Allen White
Is greatly impressed with the "econo-
mics Of production" that follow the
passing Of competition. And only the
other day the Contributing Editor re-
buked those who believe that 1t is
possible by strengthening the anti
trust law to restore business to the
competitive conditions of the middle
Of the last century" and declared
that amy such effort Is foredoomed to
failure. and II successful would be
mischievous to the last degree"
All Of which is pure assumption.
and assumption that has little to rest
on. The world has known monopo-
lies before. monopolies OF peculiarly
complete and odious character We
are not the first people that has had
to deal with the trust problem No
doubt there were men back in the
Elizabethan days who were convinced
that competitive conditions" could
never be restored. But they were
restored. and have pretty generally
prevailed In England to this day.
There was not much competition
under the old regime In France. so
ciety being little more than com,
bination Of mobiles and church digni-
taries to rob the people through re-
straints imposed on trade. But those
restraints were swept away What
warrant have Mr.. Roosevelt and the
rest for thinking that today's attempts
to restore competition are "fore-
doomed to failure?
But there is the further suggestion
that they can not be restored through
the enforcement OF the antitrust law.
The New York World calls attention
to the fact that the recent reduction OF
cable tolls by the Western Union Tele-
graph company was promptly met by
the Commercial Cable company. which
intimates that "the specter at Wash.
ington Is responsible" for the Western
Unions action So here we have a
plain case of competition. competition
due to the attitude Of the administra.
tion as to law enforcement The
''specter at Washington" is evidently
the Sherman law as 1t Is being en-.
forced by President Taft. There
seems to be a mistake somewhere. Is
It not possible that the error is on
the part Of those wise men who would
substitute for competition the ten
der care of a government that might
we do not say that would-7license
and sanction such restraints on com
petition as that which resulted from
the absorption Of the Tennessee Coal
and Iron company by the steel trust?
The World says:
Judge Gary Is still pleading for a
Little Father Not that
good trust like the steel trust would
harm single hair Of rivals head or
knowingly commit any conceivable
wrong. but human flesh is weak and
government is all-wise and always
beneficent There used to be captains
of industry when the steel trust was
formed. Now they are begging to be
suffers. They want Red Cross nurse
IN government uniform to take COM
rand. They must be saved from
themselves. They must have some
one who will lead them not into evil
but deliver them from temptation"
In other words. the demand is for
protection and insurance against com.
petition. n.--Indianapoli News.