Imperial Valley press., 1912-07-24
STEEL COMMITTEE WANTS
CHANGES IN ANTITRUST LAW

WASHINGTON, July 24.-The leg
islative recommendations of the ma.
jority members Of the Stanley steel
committee, which were finally com
| pleted today, are radical beyond an.
| ticipation.
The steel committee proposes far.
| reaching changes in the Sherman anti
! trust law.
The bill proposes that individuals
shall have the power to bring suits in
equity for an injunction under the
Sherman antitrust law and that they
also shall have the power to inter
vene in any suit brought by the gov
ernment under this act
The bill also proposes that the bur
den of proof in regard to the reason
ablenesS or unreaSonablenes of re
straint of trade shall be shifted from
the complainant to the defendant cor
poration. In addition to these recon-
mendations the committees bill de-
fines acts which shall constitute un-
reasonable restraints of trade
Section 10 of the bill is designed
to permit any individual to begin suits
in equity for an injunction under the
Sherman antitrust law. The courts
have held that under the present law
no such proceeding lies except at the
instance of the government, not even
If the petitioners were a state
Section II is designed to give indi-
viduals or a state the opportunity to
intervene in a government suit. The
committee report contends such a pro
Vicinn will Dnpnt thn hct o1p
tice presented in the tobacco ;gu-.
case, wherein the Independents were
not allowed to intervene. and hence
had not right to appeal to the supreme
court OF the United States"
In regard to section II the Stanley
committee says:
1T seems clear that if it appears
to the court that the defendants have
combined to restrain trade they ought
to have the burden of proof to show
that the restraint is reasonable: that
is. is consistent with the public inter
ests."
Section II of the bill also is drastic.
1t holds that the mere fact that an
accused corporation controls 80 per
cent of the output of its product shall
be presumptive evidence in the case
of combination in restraint of trade
showing such restraint was unreason-
able.
The committee points out that the
Standard Oil and tobacco trusts ac-
quired hundreds of millions of dollars
from the public through illegal prac
tees. involving the destruction of
many Independent concerns
This SpctiOD bitc bo
United Shoe Machinery company
which controls the shoemaking ma
Chinery of the country
Section 10 of the bill gives the
courts broad power to partition cor
porations held TO be Illegal under the
law. This is regarded as one of the
most radical sections of the bill
Commenting on this section of the
bill the committee says:
The provisions of this section are
designed to make clear the power of
the court to bring about a real disso-
luton of the trust and to avoid such al
legged shame as the disintegration in
the tobacco trust and the Standard
Oil cases"
The bill also prohibits persons ell
gagged in the manufacture of steel rails
or other steel railroad equipment from
becoming directors or officers of rail
roads. A fine of 500 day for every
day during which such person acts as
a director, officer or employe Of rail
road is provided, or imprisonment for
such period as the court may desig-
nate not exceeding one year, or both
fine and Imprisonment
This bill is aimed, of course, at the
directors Of the United States Steel
who are members of the
governing boards of directors of rail-
roads.