New-York tribune., 1919-08-12
Committee of
Senators to
Act ON Prices
Continued from page I


for any one Senator to work out a
remedy for this abnormal! situation
that sprcsds throughout the world
Time will be required, and the public
must be patient. We canont work a
II racle. 10 work out solut,oa we
h.ust fave patience. liberation scnc
seI!. sac, iice and approval for some
degree CT experimentation"
The inclination of Senator BraEdc-
gees constituents to blame the hjgn
coss of living on the farmer made Sen
ator Nelson. of Minnesota. inpatient.
while the price of flour may be
high he said, there is no compar-
son between the advance in the
cost of -four and that in the
cost Of boots and shoes and cloth
ing. These gentlemen in New England
who are SO wrought up had better
sweep off their own doorsteps before
attacking the farmers of the West"
Senator Borah agreed with Senator
Nelson. He cited figures in recent
report by Basil Manly. which he COM
mended to the attention Of the Attor-
ney General These figures showed
that eightytwo American corporations
had net incomes in 1915 Of S325 .000-
900; in 1916 Of over $1,000, 900 600; in
1917 Of s975,000000, and in 1918 Of
s73600o. .000.
Doubled Their Earnings
"These figures show earnings" he
said, "after dcducting every penny Of
taxes. | am convinced that there have
been concealments of excessive earn
lngS and that these corporations made
well over $1,000, 900 in 1918. At
least they made 50 for every 81 they
made before the war. If these figures
are correct, and there would be no diff
iiculty in finding out, here is something
for the Attorney General to begin with
in his search for profiteers."
The general purpose of the Kellogg
bill for the licensing Of corporations
engaged in interstate commerce was
address to Congress. The bill requires
all corporations with capital or assets
of more than S10.000,0O0 to take out
licenses, to be issued by the Federal
Trade Commission.
The corporation would be presumed
to be a legal corporation and would
have the right TO engage in interstate
and foreign commerce, unless the
license were revoked.
Licenses would be forfeited if the
corporation entered into any contract,
combination or conspiracy in restraint
of trade, or monopolizc or attempt to
mOnopolze commerce.
This would give the Federal Trade
Commission supervisory jurisdiction
over such corporations" Senator Kel-
logg explained. "Their licenses would
be subjected to forfeiture if they en-
gagged in combination to raise prices,
engage in unfair methods of compet-
tion for the sake of crushing their
competitors, or any of the other abuses
which have been in the past commonly
Limit May Be Too High
1T may be-" he acknowledged, "that
$40 900 900 is excessive and that small
er corporations should be covered by
the bill. 1t was my view at the time |
prepared this bill that the danger of
monopolization of commerce arose with
regard to those large corporations hav
ing business all over the country capa
Bile of eXerting their power
ut is my opinion that prosecution
under the present antitrust act is not
a sufficient remedy. There should be a
department of the government having
power of supervision, not necessarily
interfering with the business of the
country, but possessing the power to
investigate, publish facts and take i'm
mediate action to revoke q license if a
corporation abuses its power.
with this power in the Federal
government there will be less likell-
hood of price fixing agreements. The
bill provided, however, if the license
tect it's rights in the courts. | would
not give any executive board of the
government absolute power to bar a
corporation from engaging in inter
state commerce. On the other hand,
under the present law many corpora
tons do not know whether or not they
are lawfully transacting business or
whether they are legally organized
Lawyers and courts differ on the sub
ject. They should be licensed and
know whether their business is lawful.
In fact, as this bill provides, they
should have the right to apply to the
commission and have it determined in
advance whether any proposed action
is legal
Regulates Stock Issues
"The bill also regulates the issuance
of stock and securities by such corpor-
alton and requires all stock hereafter
issued to be fully covered either in
property or money. 1t provides that
a corporation having more than so per
cent of the total business of the same
character in the United States shall
not purchase the property and bust
ness of any other corporation engaged
in a similar and competitive business
unless the said purchasing corporation
shall apply to the commission and re-
ceive the approval thereof. The OBJ
ject Of this provision is to prevent a
large corporation having more than so
per cent of the business from using its
power to compel its competitors to sell
and from acquiring complete monop-
oily by purchase of competitive con-
Germs.
ut is in the best interests of the
country that there should be free
and open field in which to engage in
] business. and that comnetitnrs shauld