The Washington times., 1915-06-14
STATE CORPORATION
F.. LAW REFORM URGED
Report by Federal Trade Com
mission Chairman Recon-
mends Uniform Statutes.

Extensive reforms In State corpora
tion laws. not only to make them more
effective in preventing abuses. but also
to make them as nearly uniform as pos
sible for the general convenience Of the
business world. are urged In report
today on trust laws and unfair COM
petition by Joseph e. Davies. chairman
of the Federal Trade Commission.
The report is based on an investiga-
tion by the old Bureau of Corporations
before it was absorbed by the Federal
Trade Commission, but circumstances
prevented its publication before this
time, states Mr.. Davies, who was for
merly commissioner of corporations.
Conclusions reached in the report are:
That while the Sherman antitrust
law has been an important factor In
shaping the forms of business organi-
zation, 1t is not so clearly established
that the judicial decisions afford a
basis for determining with exactness
the lawfulness or unlawfulness. when
taken severally, of many particular de-
vices that have been used collectively
to control the marekt.
That the Clayton act of October Is.
1914, was designed in part to establish
more definitely the unlawfulness of
some of these devices to lessen COM
petition.
Powers of Commission.
That the act of September 28. 1914.
establishing a Federal Trade Com
mission, gives administrative powers
to the commission with respect to
corporation activities and the en-
forcement of the antitrust laws. and
also gives 1t the quasi-judicial func-
tion Of determining questions Of un-
fair methods of competition; and that
the powers Of the commission are eN-
tended under the Clayton act to de-
termine questions concerning those
devices to lessen competition which
1s Unlawful under that act.
That While the States In some In
stances have gone further than Con-
gress in prohibiting specific. forms OF
combination. there is need of uni
formity in State laws.
No comment is made on the plans
OF the commission in carrying on its
trust regulatory work, for these
Neither does the commission in its
report presume to make a dogmatic
Interpretation of the law.
The report discusses Federal anti
sions hereunder. and the influence
of such legislation on forms OF busi-
ness org sanization. the antitrust laws
Of States, the legislation OF foreign
lions. and the laws and judicial deci-
sions in the United States and vari-
Gus foreign countries with regard to
unfair or unlawful competition.
Antitrust Laws Constrasted.
Contrasting antitrust laws in the
United States with those in certain for
eign countries the Davis report says that
while in most foreign countries the basic
idea of unfair competitions is an act which
unjustly Injuries competitor, and com
paratively little consideration is given
to the question of the effects on the
general public. legal decisions and leg
islation in this country indicate that the
effects on the public are considered.
"In certain classes of cases, when de-
termining whether a method of compe-
tition Is unfair or not, the question
whether It tends to lessen competition
or to bring about a monopoly appears to
be of primary Importance" the Davies
report concludes.
TT appears that Congress was con-
scious of this identity between unfair
methods of competition and certain
practices to lessen competition. and
therefore provided that the quasi-judi-
cial functions of the Federal Trade
Commission concerning unfair methods
of competition should apply to those
devices to lessen competition which are
prohibited under the Clayton act"