Evening star., 1923-05-23
TRADE COMMISSION
|. STATUS DEPL0RED
General Counsel Would
Z Change Law to Permit
6 Aiding of Business.

The Federal Trade Commission un-
der the present law lis always adver-
sary to business" the American
Wholesale Grocers Association. in
annual convention here, was told to-
day. by Edgar Watkins of Atlanta,
IT'S general counsel
Mr.. Watkins recommended legisla-
ton to enable the commission Ito put
itself in association with business and
TO aid business" by authorizing 1t TO
rule on its own initiative as to the
Fairness of particular trade practices
and ethical codes. This, he said, should
be done before any complaint was
-fled against an Individual for any
bractice not definitely and clearly
prohibited'' as a result of such gem
eral investigation.
Backs Code of Ethics.
He also advocated legislation spe-
Gf1cally authorizing trade associa-
tons ito announce. publish and ad,
here to a code of business ethics.
declaring their right to do so, which.
he believed. they possessed, was In
doubt.
,.Nr. watkins declared that, with the
Traa "nmmission authorized to rule
particular business or any particular
association felt that the commission
was wrong in denominating prac-
toe unfair" 1t could continue the
practice with full knowledge that
formal complaint would be filed, ana
then, as now, Woulo nave recourse W
the courts
Under the present law, he said. he
knew of cases where business men
have justly felt outraged at COM
plants against them because the
mere filing and publication OF a COM
plaint hurts the. respondent. even
though subsequently he is adjudgeu
TO be innocent" the public being
''prone to regard anybody complained
against as probably guilty.
Fnvors Some Combines.
He emphasized that he was not
criticizing the commission itself. nut
tta functions under the law consti-
tuting it, all of which he described
as mega ative."
Mr.. watkins expressed the opinion
that it was lawful to combine TO
prevent the malicious price cutter
from destroying his competitors and
injuring the public" but, because OF
uncertainty in legal and judicial in
terpretations of certain limiting
words in antitrust and other
statutes. such a combination would be
asked Ito cease and desist."
"This uncertainty" he declared.
prevents the self differentiation of
small enterprises and leaves condi-
tions unsafe for business. A large
business does not need to combine.
1t has power sufficient to protect
itself. To deny the right Of small
businesses to make combination ef-
fective by use of the primary law OF
self-defense is to leave such busi-
nesses unprotected
Antitrust Laws Futile.
The futility of the antitrust
statutes, he said, "is apparent from
even a casual consideration of some
of the outstanding injunction suits
and dissolution orders. none of which
has benefited the public so far as
the public could discern"
criticized by Mr.. watkins. who de-
clared. ANY kind of a guarantee Of
returns to the carriers" as provided
In the Transportation act OF. 1870 was
fundamentally wrong.
when an agency of production has
intellgently performed its service,
and thereby has earned more than a
fhmieaf fhere is agohj ge jgstfieation for an at
tempt to equalize the efficient with
the inefficient"
The statute authorizing suit by ship
pers for loss and damages against the
initial carrier on the ground that all
the carriers party to transportation
movement were partners, Mr watkins
argued. frequently works hardsnlp on
business by forcing II to- go far afield
in It's court action. Urging amendment
of the law to permit suit against any
of the carriers participating In con-
tract of transportation. he said this
would be a. fair to the carriers as the
present provision and would enable the
shipper TO bring suit against the road
delivering the commodity involved In
the dispute.
He also recommended amendment of
rN,-ts1 tfnrl 80
provisions for partial guarantee of re-
turns and partial surrender to the gov
ernment of earned income. and to pro-
vide protection to shippers for losses
caused by misquotation of rate by
carrier
Another amendment advocated by
Mr.. Watkins would extend the time
in which shippers may file suits for
oyerCharge to correspond with the
time given carriers to file suit for un-
dercharge*, which is now limited to
three years, as compared with a two
year Limitation for shippers. A re-
quest that Congress eQualize these
time limitations was embodied in a.
resolution which was approved today.
The association also was addressed
this morning by Francis E. Kemper
president OF the National Associa-
tion OF Retail Grocers. before leav-
ing for a visit to Baltimore. Mr.
Kemper advocated more strict atten-
tion to credits on the part of whole
salers and defended the service gro