The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-05-14
The SHERMAN Law
SENATOR Smith DISCUSSES ANTI.
TRUST ACT
RELATION TO FARMERS
The South Carolina Senator Declares
That the Statute is Aimed Only at
Combinations of Capital and Not at
Labor on the Farm or in the
Shop

Labor on the Farm or in the
Shop.
Discussing the Sherman antitrust
law and its relation to the farmers of
the country, Senator E. D. Smith, Of
South Carolina Wednesday made
what is considered by many one Of
the best speeches yet delivered In the
Senate on this subject. He said in
part.
II do not think there is any doubt
that, viewing it from an abstract
standpoint, there is room for argu-
ment on both sides Of this question,
but there is not a senator on the floor
Of the Senate who is not perfectly
cognizant Of the fact that the Sher-
man antitrust law was never con-
ceiyed Of as restriction against lab
or or against the agricultural inter-
ests.. The whole agitation as IS set
forth in the debates on antitrust leg
islation during the passage Of the
legislation indicates this fact, and
around that one fact circle all the
arguments In favor of antitrust law,
that it was aimed at the unrestricted
and unrestrained power that accom-
panied great aggregations Of actual
wealth. It was directed against a
system under which few individuals
having in their possession great fin
ancial resources, holding in their
hands, as it were, the very life blood
of commerce, could at their sweet
will cut the wages of those who con-
verted the raw material into the fin
ished product on the or side, and
dictate the price to thoso who pro-
duced the raw material on the other
side. There is not a farmer In the
senate, and I suppose there are a
few here, who has labored with his
own hands, who has toiled to produce
that which would minister to the
needs and the comforts of the people
of this country Of ours, who has been
engaged in producing our staple pro-
ducts, but has felt the power Of ag-
gregate capital overriding and sub
verting the law of supply and de-
mand, and reducing it not to the law
of supply and demand, but to the law
of money supply and the man
"There is not a man who does not
understand that this legislation was
aimed at these aggregations of cap
ital which under the peculiar genius
of our government were left until the
antitrust law was passed practically
unrestricted.
Wealth in the form Of capital is
actual. Wealth in the form OF muscle
and effort, wealth in the form of field,
forest and factory, is potential. The
object Of our government, as under
stand it, is to encourage a diffusion
of wealth that will make every man
a patriotic citizen, ralizing that under
the law, no matter what suIbterfuge
may be resorted to, it will be impos-
sible for him to get just return for
the labor expended. There is not a
man on this floor who will dare stand
up and declare that he believes the
farmers of this country and the Ia
borers of this country under the ac-
tual, practical operation of our law
have got their just return for the
vast wealth produced in this country.
speaking about class. legislation,
| a majority Of the people in this
country are engaged in doing the Ia
Dor in both field and factory. 1t has
been said here this afternoon we are
catering to those engaged in labor
and in agricultural pursuits on &C
| count OF their numbers rather than
on account of the equity involved.
"The whole thing resolves itself
back into this: We as legislators,
should see to it that labor, the actual
force that converts. capital into. that
which we need shall not be oppressed
by capital in it's aggregate form
that the farmers of this country have
right to combine for the purpose OF
diFusing wealth and not for the pur-
pose Of concentrating it. :.
"It is absurd and idle to stand on
| this floor and argue that If the hun
dreds and thousands Of laborers en-
ployed In a steel factory were to
strike and secure a raise in their
wages the result of that would be as
disastrous to the people at large as
for the capitalists engaged in this
Industry to combine and put an un'
holy price upon that which labor has
produced and concentrate thai
wealth in the pockets Of the few and
menace this very government, as was
done in 1907.
"I, for one, shall vote to retain II
this bill this provision just as it Is
for the reason that I believe the au
| thor of it meant to say, even If it IS
little awkwardly expressed, that the
farmers and laborers OF this countr!
shall not in the process Of organlza
ton be considered subject to the op'
Grafton of the antitrust law, bu
shall be subject to the operation o.
other laws that pertain to VIOLENCE
and bloodshed and whatever else ma!
be incident to their actions but fol
which nothing can be visited upo1
the organization.
"This provision serves notice OF
the courts that we do mean to elm
, mate agricultural and labor organiza
tions from the operation of the sher
, man antitrust law, and therefore
, am going to vote for it until sucl
time as shall have the privilege o
voting for an amendment to the orig
; inal law"
-~e
Good Law to Pass.