The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-02-12
TRUST DEBATE ON
ANTITRUST Law
PRESIDENT VAN HISE OF WISCON-
SIN SAYS DISCRIMINATION is
SHOWN IN PROSECUTION.

Washington, February 12.-Presi-
dent Charles r. Van Hise, of the
University of Wisconsin, proposed be-
fore the Chamber of Commerce of
America here today that the Sherman
antitrust law should be supplemented
by an act which would forbid only
combinations and contracts in re
stra!nt of trade that are detrimental
to the welfare of the people. He
charged that for political reasons laws
against monopolies and restraints of
trade are enforced only against "big
business" the small dealer, the farm
er and the laborer being permitted to
combine and monopolize at will
Under the enforced competitive
SYSTEM President Van Hise said, eve
are recklessly skimming the cream of
the natural resources of a virgin con
tinent with no concern for the fu-
ture."
To support this contention, the
speaker said that the coal mines could
produce 2OO,OOO,OOO tons more coal per
year than the market demanded but
that the operators regulated by the
Sherman act, were compelled to han
die their mines without cooperation
in limiting the output, dividing ter
ritory, or regulating prices Such
practices result, he said, in mining in
a wasteful fashion, working the thick
veins and neglecting the thin veins
in order to get coal to the market
at the lowest possible cost.
'If the operators could agree upon
limitation of output, so as to reduce
freight" continued the speaker, "and
could arrange for reasonable prices,
which would give them no more than
their present profits, they would eX-
plot coal conseryatively, and they
would be the gamers in prolonging
the life of the mines for future gener-
ations.
so far asthe public is concerned in
the separation of the L. p. and the
Southern Pacific railways, the only
effect is that there will be fewer
through trains, greater expense in ac-
counting, and less close cooperation
between the two systems, in handling
the freight and passenger business.
81 am willing to stand for enforce.
ment of the law when it is enforced |
alike fer all, but when some one is
picked out because it is good poll
tics to attack him, and the others are
allowed to escape, say, it is pro-
foundly immoral situation. To have |
statute which requires the officials |
of justice to close one eye whenever
they pass by the men in control of |
some industries and, at the same mo- |
ment see other men not one whit |
more guilty, is not justice. And that |
is exactly the existing situation in this |
country
The speaker said it had been gen
orally assumed that the only violators
of the Sherman act were combinations |
such as the steel and tobacco trusts,
and that the small business men and
small producers were not dealt with |
under the law, although they cooper
ate in exactly the same way as the
more powerful organizations.
Congress well understands this sit
uation' he continued, "and at re-
cent session a paragraph containing
an appropriation of 100000 for the
of the antitrust laws was
attached with a proviso that none of
the money should be spent in prose
cutting combinations or agreements of
labor. or for the prosecution of pro-
ducers of farm products and associa-
tions of farmers.
Some state legislatures, including
Texas, Louisiana, Illinois and South
Dakota, appreciated that the farmers
had so many votes that they had to
be dealt with gently when they form a
trust, and acted accordingly"
81 confidently look forward to a new
era of social responsibility on the part
of both the well to do and the poor"
Mr.. Van Hise concluded, ''and to a
time when reason and science rather
than vested interest shall control
economic legislation