Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-02

abandonment of the proposed amt
trust" program, he expects to see the
depression in business extend until
the administration at Washington will
be discredited.
I Assuming that this administration
will not repeal the Sherman antitrust
law, which is menace to business,
and assuming also that it will be i'm
possible to obtain relief through the
passage Of measures that have the ef-
feet of an antidote, Ex-Governor Doug
las is strongly Of the opinion that
There should be permanent in
dustrial commission with power to
license corporations doing an inter
state commerce business" "Other-
WISE" says Mr. Douglas, capital will
remain timid, manufacturers will lack
courage, business will become stag
nant and prosperity will vanish"
1.-THE trouble with most Of our law
makers" says Mr. Douglas, "is that
they do not clearly distinguish be-
tween monopoly or trust corporations
and simply ordinary business corpora
tions. They try to make the same laws
fit both classes of corporations. Many
of our legislators apparently work
upon the assumption that all large
corporations are bad and should be
regulated. The truth Is that most Of
our corporations and even many Of
our fairly large ones have no faint Of
monopoly and should not be molested.
1t ought to be easy to determine what
classes Of corporations constitute
monopolies and therefore what ones
should be regulated.
Generally speaking those in
dustries that depend upon franchises.
patents or other special privileges,
are, by nature, monopolistic, while or
binary industries such as farming,
manufacturing and merchandising do
not depend upon franchises and priv
ileges and are not by nature monopo-
listic. It is fair and necessary to regu-
late corporations in the monopoly in
dustries; it is unfair, unnecessary and
most harmful to make laws to restrict
and hamper the corporations In the
anti-monopoly industries.
"A purely private business, whether
incorporated or unincorporated, should
not be interfered with in any way,
from an anti-monopoly standpoint. IT
is right and necessary for the public
to equitably regulate railroad, street
railway and telephone rates and to fix
the prices Of gas, water and cleo
tricity. All of these industries have
franchises or special privileges.
There are thousands of independ-
ent manufacturers Of competing
products" said Mr.. Douglas, who,
like myself, are uncertain Of the
future because we fear flood Of anti
trust laws with commissions to regu-
late and fix prices of products Of pri-
vate as we'll as public business. We
hesitate to invest new capital until
we know the conditions under which
we may do business. This hesitation
Is becoming general and may prove
fatal to prosperity. Washington
should lose no time before telling us
the exact terms on which we can con
tinue to do business. These terms
should of course, be made fair ard
equitable.
"In my opinion the Sherman anti
trust law was based upon unsound
theories It should now be repealed.
Under it some thirty or forty prosecu-
lions have occurred and many cor
poretions or combinations have been
legally broken up Has this dissolrl-
ton of large corporations and COM
binations lowered the prices of any
products or been of benefit to any
body?
when will the people learn the
folly of attempting to cure the real
evils of monopolies and trusts by pass
ing antitrust laws? The prices of the
products of the legally dissolved cor
porations are higher today than ever
before. Does anyone suppose that the
prices Of steel products will be re-
duced should the government win Its
suit against the United States Steel
CORPORATION? Lower tariff duties, how
ever, are quickly followed by reduced
prices for steel products.
"The dissolving of large corpora
lions and combinations, however, has
had some very sad effects. 1t has
caused thousands of small investors
to lose a considerable part Of their
investments in the securities of the
prosecuted corporations. Some lost d.
rectly, and others indirectly, through
their accounts in the savings banks
that suffer when their securities are
depressed. Furthermore, the value Of
investments in all corporations Is
gradually shrinking owing to the fear
of adverse, drastic legislation.
"In no other country, so far as am
Sherman law, designed to suppress
big business, and that operates to
hamper successful business. both