Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-02-13
Van nise Would Restrain 0n|y
Combinations Detrimental
TO People

SA0A 100 ASs WI
sity of Wisconsin,, proposed before
the Chamber of Commerce OF Amer''
"a here today, that the Sherman anti
trust: law should be supplemented ny
an act which. would forbid only com.
binations and contracts in restraint
Of, trade that are detrimental to the
welfare Of the people. He charged
that for political reasons laws
against m%onopolics and restraints OF
trade are enforced only against dig
business" the small dealer the farm
er and the laborer being permitted 10
combine and monopolize at Will.
"Under the enforced competitive
system" Presidednt Van Hise said
eve are rccklessly Swimming the
cream Of tie natural resources OF a
virgin continent, with no concern for
the future
To support this contention, the
speaker said that the coal mines
could produce 200, O0,00O tons more
coal per year than the market de.
manded, but that the operators, reg
ulated by the Sherman act, were COM
PEELED to handle their mines, without
cooperation in limiting the output,
dividing territory, or regulating prlc'
cs. Such practices result, he said,
in mining in a wasteful fashion,,
working thick veins and neglecting
the thin veins in order to get coal to
the market at the lowest possible
cost. H.. 49,.
IF the operators could agree upon
limitation of output, SO as to reduce
freight" continued the speaker, land
could arrange for reasonable prices,
which would give them no more than
their present profits, they would ex-
plot coal co%nservatively, and they
would be the gamers in prolonging
the life of the mines for future gen
erations. .
$50 far as the public is concerned
in, the separation Of the Union Pacific
and Southern Pacific railways, the
only effect is that there will be few
er through trains, greater expense in
accounting, and less close cO-Opera'
ton between the two systems, III
handling the freight and passenger
business.
Il am willing to stand for enforce
ment Of the law when it is enforced
alike for all, but when someone Is
picked out because it is good politics
to attack him, and the others are al
lowed to escape. I say, it is a pro
foundly immoral situation. To have
q statute which requires the officials
of justice to close one eye whenever
they pass by the men In control o1
some industries and, ut the same mo
ment see other men not one whit
more guilty is not justice. And tha'
is. exactly the existing situation III
this country
The speaker said it had been gen
orally assumed that the only violat
Ors- Of the Sherman, act; were te0mbin
atiOns such as the steel and tobacco
trusts, and that tue small business
men and small producers were no
dealt with under the law, although
they cooperate in exactly the sam
way as the more powerful organize
tions.
Congress we'll understands tli
situation he continued, land at
recent session a paragraph contain
ing an appropriation Of 100000 TO
the enforcement of the anti.trus
laws was attached with a provis
that none of the money should b
spent In prosecuting combinations 0
agreements of labor, or for the pro.
ecdtiOn of producers Of farm prot
ucts and associations Of farmers.
Some state legislatures, includin
Texas. Louisiana, Illinois and Sout
Dakota, appreciated that the farmer
had 30 many votes that they had I
be dealt with gently when they forl
a trust and acted accordingly"
:" confidently look forward to
new III of social responsibility q
the part of both the we'll to do an
the poor" Mr.. Van Hise conclude
''and to "a time when reason and sc
ence, rather than vested interes
shall control economic legislation "