New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-07-15
Public Opinion Rewriting the Anti
Trust Bills.

III. srnnlementary antitrust bills have no"
- hammered into shape in which ther au.
80 ovor IN the House OF Representatives WIZ
t.,alv rscoyp,ze them. The Tribunes washington
a,-r.tohos renort the adoption Of from hfteen "
t,.o0,v ,rnnortapt amendments, and more amenu-
u,ents will undoubtedly be made aI'el ING "'"
drafts are submitted TO the Senate
One Of the chief conceSsions.to business as i.p
resented BY the delegations from Ohicaso "D'
elsewhere which have been consulting WIN rie''
dent Wilson. is the waving Of the provision lo
ouIring absolute uniformity in the sellns PiN's
NJ articles That was a utopian ldea' oorh -
laclr az experience with business cohuiuons' Ser
ers are TO be allowed to charge prices lot III ar.
Gle varying according to the grade OF tne a''i0ie
"a +bo cost Of freight TO destination. 1t Woulu
no absurd to insist on a single sehng prIo' io'
articles in a country Of so vast an area as tne
United States Another concession Is the strlhlns
ont NJ the prohibition against exclusive safes AZ
rsngements as such. Manufacturers are sui 10
have the right to select their customers Wl'mh
nroner limitations. In ordinary business such
selection does not destroy competition Wherever
tho nractice tends to create monopoly II may
no doslt with under the antimonOpoly provisions
OF the Sherman act.
tr+or,oclino directorates are not to be forbidden
o,cent in the case Of corporations having capt.
tai surplus and undivided profits of more tnan
{, oooOoo That leaves room for harmless inter
looking IN small concerns and small communities
Cornorations are allowed to acquire stock in other
generations when such acquisition does not ham
nor competition and the foolish innovation Of COM
Melting operators of mines and oil wells to sell to
in, Golf 81 q
chaser is stricken out.
All these changes are in the direction OF uhoau-
ing the crudities with which the House blIs were
Sc pentifully burdened. The knife was also ialu
TO the labor exemption sections and these were
partiallv clarified although it will still be as
mated whether they do or do not give labor ana
agricultural organizations special class privileges
Gov exelnpting them from prosecution for violations
Of the sherman law. The Senate should try to
make this point absolutely clear inasmuch as it
approved recently in the sdndry civil appropria-
ton act proviso forbidding the Department oil
Justice TO use any Of the money granted to t in
that act To prosecute violations Of the Sherman law
by union laborers and farmers
The pending antitrust legislation may be beaten
into relatively unobjectionable shape before the
Senate gets through with It, That is what hap
pened to the currency act. The administration be
got the bills and blessed them as perfect. Then
intelligent public opinion interfered to transform
them and rationalize them. Yet the admnistra-
ton will soon be claiming that in their last state
they differ only in verbiage from what they were
in their first state. The country knows how hol-
low such a claim will be. But for the general good
it is fortunate that the administration is willing
TO have bill made over from preamble to date
line and still able to recognize it joyfully as
its unchanged own.