The Washington herald., 1915-08-22

I resentation. Various persons. including
| President Wilson. have asserted that Mr.
| George W. Perkins was an organizer OF
the Steel Corporation. This statement is
| not true. Mr.. George w. Perkins was
not one Of the organizers Of the Steel
Corporation. The court has explicitly
found that the activities Of that corpo-
| ration since the period at which Mr..
Perkins became a member of 1t have been
proper and in accordance with law, and
the court has unanimously found that
the Harvester Company, Of which he was
an organizer and Is still a member, has
been conducted in accordance with a
high standard of business integrity and
in such manner as to be beneficial to
the public. In the Steel Corporation case
the court unanimously found that the
action OF the President. myself. in per
mitting the acquisition of the Tennessee
Coal and Iron Company by the Steel
Corporation in order to put an end to
the panic of 1907 was proper. was bene-
ficial. and was not contrary to law.
Without this action the panic of 1907
could not have been stopped and would
have produced the most frightful busi-
ness convulsion throughout the length
and breadth Of the land. The action was
not only taken openly. but its effect de-
pended upon its being taken openly and
ptuhsHcu anu no EeSpOnSiDit
man at the time, within or without pub
lie life. objected to 1t or for many months
afterward dared to assail it. The At
torney General. Mr.. Bonaparte. advised
me in writing that the action was legal
and proper: and the court has now sus-
tanned his contention. The action was
unquestionably beneficial from every
standpoint to the whole nation, but the
greatest benefit conferred was upon the
section of the South. especially Northern
Alabama. which was most intimately
and permanently affected.
Where the Law Fails.
The dissolution of the Standard Oil
trust and the Tobacco trust accomplished
far less than it should have accomplished.
because the law provided no machinery
to make action In such cases of real use
to the public; and was avowedly drawn
on the theory that merely to break a big
business up into small units would some
how or other work an improvement. AS
a matter Of fact, the chief changes pro-
duced were. first. an increase of fortune
to the men on the inside who controlled
the different companies into which the
two trusts were divided under the de-
cree; and, second. an increase in the
price to the consumer. This result proved
that the method of action
in the antitrust law does not
by itself in any adequate fashion work
for good. while 1t may work great evil.
Under 1t, and unless there is action of
type for which it does not provide. great
that work evil are not ef-
fectively destroyed. while combinations
that work good are hampered and hai
assed: and honest business men cannot
find out in advance whether proposed ac-
ton on their part will or will not amount
to violation of the law and are according
ly kept in that condition OF doubt and
which is especially disas- !
trous in business affairs
AT the same time the experiences IN
with the Colorado Coal and
Fuel Company have been sufficient to
show that the greatest evils connected |
with corporations have nothing to do |!
with their size, and that no policy of !
merely breaking up big corporations |
would in the smallest degree alleviate |
these evils. At different times, as for
Instance in the recent national Demo-
ratio platforms. this breaking up of big !
has been advanced as |
.omplete remedy for what are vaguely /
Inown as the trust evils while at other
lines 1t has been announced that the
rusts owed their power to the tariff.
md that a policy Of free trade or tariff
'eduction would put an end to them.
Both prophecies have been signally-and
o the country Observation-Disclosures by
he actual course of events when they
we're tried