New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-10


uct used or transported by the rail-
road.
The investigation by the Stanley steel
committee is primarily responsible TOT
this proposal. The committee iound
that the secret Of the power OF the
steel trust was its ownership Of ore
fields and steel plants as well as trans
portation companies. The present sup
elemental antitrust legislation is so
drawn that a common carrier shall
have no interest whatever in the com
modify it transports.
No Industrial Trade Commission.
The House subcommittee has aoan-
doned the suggestion that there shall
be created an industrial trade COM
mission to exercise general supervision
and price fixing powers over corpora
tons engaged in interstate commerce
The bills now drawn, however VIII
meet the price fixing problem by for
bidding that any manufacturer shaii
fix the price Of any commodity 10 the
ultimate consumer.
II is proposed to end the patent
monopoly ard to provide for tree COM
meree in every article without inter
ference by it's original producer
TIE price-hxing activities OF manu-
facturers and the necessity for
change. from the administration view
noint wore revealed in the supreme
Court decisions in the Dick mimeo-
gr,nb case and the United Shoe Ma
chincry case.
As forecast in The Tribune dis-
matches. the administration antitrust
legislation will provide specifically that
guilt is personal and that offending
trust magnates shall be deemed guilty
Of a felony ana subject to fine and I'M
prisonment.
Heavy penalties are to be PROVIDED
for violators OF the amended antitrust
law, and Il is not intended that those
responsible for restraint Of trade
shall be subject only to charges OF a
rnisden,eanor. or that the government
shall b. satisfied merely with dsso-
luton OF the illegal combination.
To Put Teeth Into the Law.
The principle that guilt is per-
sonal.'" said one acquainted with the
administrations programme to-day,
has been rigidly observed in the bills
which are now ready for introduction.
There has never been an enforcement
Of the so-called penal clause of the
Sherman law, as inadequate as that
clause is. II is now proposed to put
teeth into the antitrust law by pro-
viding penitentiary sentences for those
who engage in monopolistic enter
prises."
Subject 10 elaboration or revision 10y
the President. whose general views
have been ascertained the House
trainers Of the administration bills seek
TO clarity the meaning of the Sherman
law as it now stands and TO remove
from the realm Of controversy the Oft
asked question, What is a trust?'
The definition Of restraint of trade
will be set forth in great detail, the
fundamental idea advanced being that
there must be unrestricted competition
in business. and that any combination
or agreement which embarrasses the
arteries Of commerce shall be deemed a
restraint Of trade within the meaning
Of the Sherman law.
II is held by the House members IN
charge of proposed supplementary leg
jslation that although the Supreme
Court spoke Of the possibility Of 'rea-
sonable restraint, no such reasonable
restraint" has ever come to public no
tice. and IL is proposed to so amend the
sherman act that there can be no such
thing as a rule Of reason in dealing
with restriction Of trade.
Three Bills Proposed.
II is said that the trust question will
be treated in thr bills which have
been drafted by the Clayton sub-com-
mittee. although it is not improbable
that eventually these three measures
will be made into one. without material
change in their provisions. 1t Is ad-
mitted that the bills will not be intro
duced into the House or submitted TO
the full judiciary Committee before the
President has examined them. Their
introduction probably will await also
the reading Of the Presidents message
on the trusts.
II is authoritatively asserted, how
ever. that the bills which have been
drawn embrace what the House franz
ers understand. after White House con-
ferences. to be the administration
trust policy. Not a line was written
until House leaders consulted the Pres
ident, who outlined in the abstract his
ideas for correcting the trusts
When the President returns TO Wash
inston he will be presented with these
bills, and it is not believed there will
be modification, except possibly in the
matter of language.
Unless the President has changed his
views the fundamentals Of the admins
tration's measures for regulating the
trusts vill be as outlined above.
WOMAN WINS FIRE FIGHT
Mrs. Guggenheim Quells Blaze