Arizona republican., 1916-09-26

that nothing Tn the antitrust laws now | existing should be interpreted to inter-
 fere with the proper sort of cooperation ! among exporters. The foreign field is | not like the domestic field. The for
 eiOn field is full of combinations meant i to be exclusive. The antitrust laws of 1 the United States are intended to pre- i vent any kind of combination in the [ United States which shall be exclusive
 of new enterprises within the United | States, any combination which shall ! set up monopoly in America; but the 1 export business is very big business, ] very complicated business, a very eX- l penSlVe business, and 1t ought to be | possible and it will be possible and le- | gal for men engaged in exporting to i get together and manage it in groups !!
 so that they can manage 1t at an ad- l vantage instead of at a disadvantage as compared with foreign rivals. Not !! for the purpose of exclusive and mon- l
 opolistic combination, but for the pur-
 pose of cooperation; and there is very wide difference there. l for my | self deSpise monopoly and l have an enthusiasm for cooperation. By coop 1
 eration I mean working along with
 anybody who is willing to work along with you under definite understanding , and arrangements which will con stitute a sound business program. | There can be no jealousy of that and if | there had been time, 1 can say with
 confidence that this bill which passed the house would have passed the sen-
 ate of the United States also. So that any obstacle that ingenious lawyers
 may find in the antitrust laws will be | removed. I was a lawyer once myself
 before I reformed, and 1 can divide a
 hair twixt north and northeast side,
 but I dc not think it is worth while
 and 1 do not think that statutes are the 1 places for ingenuity. A statute IS ln-
 tended to lay down a broad and com | prehensiVe and national policy, and II
 ought to be read in that light. But
 there would be no fun in punctuation If
 you have to read it that way. The
 purpose of legislation in the immediate
 future in this country is going to be to
 remove all ingenious constructions and
 make it perfectly clear what the liber- ties as well as the restraints Of trade
 are in this country.
 | And then there must be cooperation, not only between the government and
 the business men but between the bus
 mess men and the employees. Shippers must cooperate and they ought to be studying now how to cooperate. We must address ourselves immediately
 and as rapidly as possible to the recre ation of a great American merchant
 marine. Our present situation is very like this: Suppose that a man who
 had a great department store did not
 have any delivery wagons, and depend-
 ed upon his competitors in the same
 market to deliver his goods to his GUS
 toners. You know what would happen.
 They would deliver their own goods
 first and they would deliver yours only if yours were to be delivered upon the routes followed by their wagons. That
 is an exact picture of what is taking place in our foreign trade at this minute. Foreign vessels carry our goods where they, the foreign vessels, happen to be going and they carry them only if they have room in addi-
 tion to what they are carrying for : other ports. You cannot conduct trade . in that way That is conducting trade on sufferance That is conducting trade on an if you please basis of
 service. the point of view of which is , not to your advantage Therefore. we p cannot lose any time in getting deliv- 2 cry wagons.
 ! There has been a good deal of dis Q cussion about this recently, and it has e been said, The government must not Q take any part in this. You must let | private capital do it. and the reply | was, All right, go ahead oh. but S we will not go ahead unless you hell 8 us' We said, Very well, then. we vii " go ahead but we will not need youl l help. because we do not want to com s pete where you are already doing tho = carrying business, but where you art t not doing the carrying business and il e has to be done for some time at 2 d cost, we will undertake to do it at { a cost until that route is established n and we will give place to private capi II tai whenever private capital is read! Il to take the place. That sounds like ; J very reasonable proposition. We vii e carry your goods one way when W, Y have to come back empty the othe U way and lose money on the voyage . and when there are cargoes both way a and it profitable to carry them. w . shall not insist upon carrying then a any longer
 S And it is absolutely necessary nov n to make good our new connections if Our new connections are with tn h great and rich republics to the south O 10 us. For the first time in my recollec l. tion they are beginning to trust am d believe in us and want us and one O I my chief concerns has been to see tha l., nothing was done that did not show IS friendship and good faith on our part The great interesting geographical fac