Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-05-26
prstsxt., most q which are

various prstexts. most Of which are
frivolous.
Nj. UntermcSx said that until the
,comnittee is in \ position to present
comprehensive. constructive plan
OF lcei1la4ion In the form of drastic
trol&of trade associations. the public
Authorities must be urged to keep a.
close watchNon the effects of the in
vestig4tion on the practices of these
associations ana ascertain whether tho
promises Of dissolution have been
kept.
Question Of Control.
II is no longer . question" he sdd-
cd. "ofs which industries, are o
trolled through combinations or asso-.
Citations but which are not controlled
and where they are to be found.
MY concrete suggestion at this
stage is, therefore. that 1 be commits,
stoned in the name Of the committee
to address communications to the at
torney general Of the United States,
the federal trade commission and the
attorney general of the state, with
accompanying list Of three classes of
combinations described, that are be-
ieved to be operating contrary to law,
urging that their investigators keep
in touch with them and report from
time to time upon the activities OF tho
members Of those of them that are
claimed to have disbanded, as well as
those who have pretended to do 50 and
those that are still openly operating.
The worst breeding nest for the
local combinations that are operating
in violation Of law, Is the building
trades employers association, to whose
operation counsel proposes to give
close study with a view to determin-
ing whether there are sufficient
grounds for criminal prosecutions
against the responsible officials Of
that association. What a pity that this
cancer upon the building trades can
not be treated like an ordinary
raided and broken up by the police.
Sounds = Note Of Warning.
May I at this point, be permitted
a personal word by ray Of a note of
warming. I am no alarmist and have
unbounded confidence in the sound
ness Of our institutions, but my great
fear is that the country either does
not sufficiently realize or has become
callous to the perils that Turk in the
social. unrest that Is being accentuated
by the greed and piracy Of these COM
binations that infcst the land from
end to end.
They are ,all-powerful. IT is still
possible to reach the little fellows but
the biggest and most dangerous of
them apparently are already above
and beyond the Law as it now stands.
That the law has failed to reach
them is demonstrated by h fact that
they rave thrived and multiplied year
by year in defiance Of it. Our ability
to protect the people against their
ever-increasing intolerable exploita-
lions is going to tax our resourceful-
ness to the limit. 1t will be the gu
preme test Of government and I be-
ieve thai we shall in the end prove
to meet the test al we have the other
crisis in our history. But it will be we'll
for US not to ignore or minimize the
peril. We must recognize that we
are facing a crisis and act promptly
and aggressively."
Mr.. .Untermyer withdrew his criti-
cism, uttered earlier in the day, of
Acting District Attorney Joab M. Ban
ton, who had been reported as CRITICS.
ing the Lockwood committee and Mr..
Untermyer. Mr.. Banton declared his
remarks had been garbled and as
sured the committee, and MI. Lock-
wood of his sincere appreciation of
their work.