The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-29

statute, Congress clearly indicated that they meant every contract which re- strained trade, 1t being a matter of no moment whether such contract was valid or Invalid. Justice Harlan was, how ever overruled, but his dissenting opinion in both cases wrote his name in the annals of American jurisprudence as . great lawyer and wise man, man of deep convictions and having the courage to denounce what he considered to be wrongful, illogical decision.
 The fallaey of the decision and the rule is all the more apparent when the et- feet of the rule announced is considered. Only such contracts which are in un- reasonable restraint of trade are Illegal, that is the same law which was formerly so prolific of evil prior to the passage of the Sherman antitrust law is brought back into force and effect the only diff ference being that a severe civil and criminal penalty Is imposed for it's viola ton On looking at this rule, there does not appear 10 be anything wrong with the logic. On the contrary 1t appears very reasonable and doubtless 1t is from the appearance that it derived it's name. but when it is taken into consideration that the law has utterly failed as a criminal statute and that the civil penalty IS pitlfully inadequate as opposed to the profits to be derived from breach Of the law by one of the great agents of commerce having it's qualifications extend-
 ing from the Pacific to the Atlantic and from the gulf to the great lakes, with presidential administration in sympathy with Big Business" and whose appointees would in all likelihood be in sympathy with his ideas, we are forced to con~ cgide that the same law which existed in 1S59 prior to the passage of the sherman antitrust law of 1890 is In effect since the above doctrine was ail- nounced for as criminal statute the law has failed and under existing conditions, ,the civil penalty Is a minor matter so long as the great corporation can grow fat by means of it's many tiny threads running through the several states. in the smaller towns and cities and unheeded and unchecked gather in the shekels, but putting on long, gaunt, hungry face in the places where men con gregatez and are many and powerful as individuals exclaiming to the public. See how poor 1 am You have legislated against me until last year my profits were only .005 per cent on the dollar. Have mercy and don't hit a fellow when he is down." But mark you, this same poor, hungry, artificial creation which must be fed dollars or else 1t will fail, contributes vast sums to the election of Presidents of the United States and 1t can only do so out of It's original capital for last year it's profits were only .005 per cent on the dollar. II is certainly pity for the poor beast to have to give away all of it's money when 1t hasn't made any at all for so long. Poor thing.
 With the severance from the mother country came the necessity of peopling our vast wildernesses and this could only be done by means of organization. This sIx... IA rFfA tZ1 means of the corporation which existed at that time, but which had not in tho history of "Merrie England' ever done any harm and the early leaders in our country, for the purpose of developing our resources began to follow this plan. The courts seeing the need of the coun- try for organization encouraged this policy and favored the corporation then weak and feeble for the sake of the good to be derived from the development of the country. Thus you see the good cell'' again aborted and becoming a cancerous growth in the vitals of the nation. The policy it is clear was essentially a wise one In the beginning, but means of the doctrine of Stare Decisis, which is in ef- feet that decisions previously announced must be followed in similar cases unless the doctrine is flatly absurd and unjust and even then must be followed until overruled. which is also a wise doctrine aborfed in this instance. we have bene- ficial and wise policy and beneficial and wise rule of law combining together and producing a swift growing diseased. Through all of the above discussion we see the conflict of the two dominant so- cial forces. capital and labor. capital gradually tending towards bureaucracy and labor toward socialism, and these forces will continue to struggle until such time AS one or the other obtains a de- cisive and final victory over the other. Taking as a premise that the law is the expression of the needs of humanity and taking Into consideration the right an- nounced in the ever memorable words of the Declaration of IndeDendence: put