Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-05-26
ASK CONGRESS.
To CHANGE LAW
PLEA He MAKES
Declares Half Big Indus
tries All Tarred With
Same Stick.
Many Organizations
HaveDi Disbanded, Many
Not, Tells Committee.

New York, May 25-Congress will
be asked to amend the federal laws 81
rs to compel imposition of prison sen
tences on convicted members of build
ing materials combinations, Samue
Untermyer announced Wednesday be
fore the Lockwood legislative commit.
tee, of which he is chief counsel. The
committees concentrations for
remedial state legislation also would be
pressed, he said.
81 have been unable to discover a
single article that enters into building
construction" Mr.. Untermyer said.
''that is not the subject of combination
and have reason to believe that this
is true of at least one half of all the
vast industries of the United States
outside of the building trades. The ac-
tivities of those that are unlawful
should receive the same kind Of at
tention that the secret service gives
to cOunterfeiters or that the expert
safe crackers receive at the hands of
the police"
After Pact Exposed.
The investigators declaration was
made after testimony by Herman Pet
RE, former president Of the Atlantic
Coast District of the Tile & Mantel
Contractors Association of America.
showing an iron clad agreement be-
tween the association and the Interna-
tional Union of Bricklayers, Masons
and P1asterers s565-
"A number of the combinations that
have been exposed by the committee"
Mr. Untermyer said, representing in
all probability 500 or more corporations
and inAivfAlsNIa f0 ~, soh
bers, contractors and dealers connect
ed with the building trades, have dis
banded their organization and have, in
my judgment, in good faith resumed
competition as the law requires.
Urges Close Watch.
MANY others have pretended to do
30, but are not acting in good failh,
while still others, and among them
some of the most powerful in the land,
covering the entire country and that
are amenable only to federal jurisdic-
tion are difiantly continuing their il
legal operations under various, pre-
texts, most of which are frivolous"
Mr.. Untermyer said that until the
committee is in a position to present
h comprehensive, constructive plan of
legislation in the form Of drastic federal
and state supervision and control of
trade associations, the public authori-
ties must be urged to keep a close
watch on the effects of the investiga-
lion on the practices of these ,associa-
lions and ascertain whether the prom
lses Of dissolution have been kept.
Wants Frequent Reports.
ut is no longer a question:" he add
ed, 'of which Industries are controlled
through combinations or associations
but which are not controlled and where
they are to be found.
my concrete suggestion at this
stage. is therefore. that I be commits
stoned in the name of the committee to
address communications to the attor-
ney general of the United States, the
federal trade commission and the attOr-
hey general of the state, with accom-
panying list of three classes Of com.
binations described. that are believed
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 the members
Of those Of them that are claimed to
have disbanded, as well as those who
have pretended to do so and those that
Are still openly operating.
Brands 1t As Cancer.
"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 view to determining
whether there are sufficient grounds
for criminal prosecutions against the
responsible officials of that association.
What pity that this cancer upon the
building trade canno: be treated like
an ordinary gambling den, or liquor
still, and be raided and broken up by
the police.
MAY I. at this point, be permitted |
a personal word by way of a note of |
warning. am no alarmist and haye |
unbounded confidence in the soundness
Of our institutions, but my great fear !
Is that the country either does not |
sufficiently realize or has become cal
lous to the penls that lurk in the So i
BY the greed and piracy of these com
binations that infest the land from end
to end.
Beyond Law, He says.
"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
by the fact that they
have thrived and multiplied year BY
year in defiance of it. Our ability to
protect the people against their ever
intoIerabe explorations is
go:ng to tax our resourcefulness to the
limit. It will be the supreme test Of
government and believe that We
shall in the end prove to meet the
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