The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-30


the advice. for we nave been fortunate
enough Ia obtain the advice, of men
| who understand the business of the
country, and we know that the effect
II going 10 be n sense OF relief and Sc
curity."
The President did not name the won
derful Administration counscllors who
are moi otherwise evident except
through his assertion of their useful
existence. He went on to ask. How
much better Is certain the italics are
, hisl Justice to tho men engaged IN
business than the subsection of bust
ness to longer continued agitation and
uncertainty. Now comes II committee
Of bankers. not Of New York, Chicago
or st. Louis bankers. or bankers of
any other large centre; and this COM
mittec traverscs the Presidents illus
trious contentious and exalted inqu-
ries with most forceful demonstration
that the Administration lawmakers do
not know what they are doing and
that the business depressing influences
Of pending legislation are not mani
Tested in doubts inspired by uncertainty.
but are comprised in the proof that the
legislation will accomplish not justice
but injustice.
There has just been filed with the
Senate judiciary Committee memo
randum or brief in behalf Of the Amer.
lean Bankers Association urging the
elimination or modification Of Section
OF the antitrust bill which recently
emanated from the House of Repre-
sentatives ~ that the national banks
will be relieved of the expressions Of
the provision against interlocking
bank directorates. The brief Is signed
by bankers In Kansas City, Kan;
High Point. n. c.; La Crosse. Wis:
Omaha, Neb.; Sioux City. Ia, and Gin
cinnati. Ohio.
1t constitutes powerful protest
against the application of the ban on
interlocking directorates to banks and
Is presumably all the more formidable
because 1t Is protest which in its
origin is as remote from the tabled
D h"bhNo va INV
as could be desired. Instead Of enact
ing justice the brief AYERS that Section
o. which had its genesis in the Pujo
inquiry and was aimed to hit the larger
financial centres, deals widespread
blow at banking and unless changed
will work great injury and injustice
1.-THE italics are oursl to hundreds OF
banks and bank officers"
Without reviewing the details of the
brief, which is said in Washington
despa tches to have made n profound
impression on the Senate judiciary
! Committee. 1t Is worth observing the
recommendation Of the bankers that IL
the new law Is insisted upon Section 0
be 80 changed as to give the Federal
Reserve Board explicit authority TO
take on occasion steps to prevent the
destruction Of competition between ma
tional banks and other banking institu-
lions In granting or refusing credit
The bankers argue in substance that
the proposed legislation Is wholly un-
necessary because the National Bank
UT and the Federal reserve act pro-
vide all the powers OF investigation
and regulation necessary to cope with
the situation which Section 0 contem-
plates, and it Is more than probable
that no legislation whatever g re-
quired to supplement the adequacy OF
the present statutes to prevent monop-
ollstic developments In the banking field
involving the national bank system.
The strength Of the bankers case
against Section 0 Is firmly founded in
the incompatibility between two theo-
ries. of lawmaking which have done
much to unsettle economic conditions
There has already been more than one
disastrous conflict between the prnci.
pies Of prohibition and Of regulation
which have governed statutory enact.
ment In the business domain. and Sec
ton Of the new House antitrust bill
Is striking exhibition Of the way in
which fawmaking based on the theory
of prohibition may clash with laws
framed on the theory Of regulation.
For that matter the same menacing
portents appear In the Administrations
effort to travel two different roads at
one and the same time by celebrating
the prohibitions Of the antitrust law
while projecting the supervising au-
thOrity Of Federal trades commission
over the organization and conduct OF
American business.
Yet we are persuaded that the Adj
mlnistration Is as sure as Con Al.
mighty that 1t knows exactly what 1t
is doing and how infallibly helpful to
business the Presidential certltudes
must be.
Theatres and Trade.