Evening star., 1923-07-01
III. S. BUSINESS GENERALLY +
is. WILLING TO BE FAIR
~
Evidence of This Fact Is to Be Found
in Operations of the Federal %
Trade Commission.

self, or words to that effect, and go
get another cash girl.
Makes Thorough Inquiry.
But if "A's,.' complaint sounds reaz.
sonable, the commission writes Ietri
ter TO ''B" informing him the COM
plant has been made. In many cases
"B' will come post haste to the COM.
mission and say he's sorry and it;
complaint becomes a closed incident"
But should "B" say he hadn't been
doing what "A" charged him with
doing, or admit that he was doing it.
saying at the same time IT was perey
fectly. right and proper that he
should do 1T, the commission decides,
to go into the case further So Ii,
sends one of its trained investigators.
to "A" and to "B" and gets an the
writing out his whole report CT the
matter with recommendations. These
recommendations and the report Eey
before board of review, composed
OF two lawyers and an economist. which
prepares again another report with
recommendations, which are taken to-
one Of the five commissioners who
compose the Federal Trade Commits:
sion. This commissioner studies the,
report of the board of review. makes
his own recommendations and pres
sents them before the full commis3-
sion. Up to this time there has been.
no publicity attached to the proceed
ing and every step~is regarded as COM
fidential and private. ar
The full commission will either dis
miss Mr.. LAS" complaint or else sert~
Mr. "B" with a formal order of corr
plaint from the commission. The
time. notice, the commission, and not
Mr.. IA" takes the burden of the CONF,
plainant And this time full publicity
ceives in his mornings mall a notice
from the commission that he is for
mally charged with resorting to pr4
fair methods in competition with hi5
rival Mr. "A" and he is given notice
to appear at a hearing to be given.
at such and such a time before the
commission. That afternoon he may
pick up his newspaper and find aha
item stating that he has been for.
ma!ly charged with doing such and
such by the Federal Trade Commis-g
sion of the United States of America,
and Mr.. b., putting down the paper.
| remarks: This Is getting serious" ~
Asked to Sign Pledge.
Here, it is found. that in the ma.
jority of the cases. Mr. "B" will hot
| foot it to the commission and beg to
be spared whatever is going to hap
pen to him. He will be spared, the
| commission informs him, if he wifi
an agreeent which lstipulates that he
must cease his Objectionable action4s
and desist forewith and Immediately.
And MIR. b, in great haste, and trepi-s
dation, signs his name with trem-.
bling hand. goes back to his store
and fires the efficiency expert who:
| told him to adopt that fool method,
in the first place. -1i%
But provided Mr.. "B" still is UNI
convinced he was wrong. he appears.
| with counsel at the hearing and ar
! cues his case. He may convince the
commission decides in his favor and.
the case Is dropped. If not. Mr.. ''B~.
| is served with an order which tells-
him to cease and desist his unfair,
methods, and at the same time the,
newspapers are all told that SUCH
an order has been issued. In thls
majority of cases. Mr.. b. crawls into
his hole and pulls it in after him. Or
courts decide As pointed out abovea
these appeals are comparatively few,
and far between.
Halted by an Injunction. =
Next fall the Supreme Court will.
/ decide on another important function
of the Federal Trade Commission. It
relates to a duty placed upon the
commission in the act creating IT,
which charged 1t with gathering
compiling and publishing information
regarding the organization. business
etc. of certain corporations or as-5
sociation engaged in Interstate come
merce. This duty was begun whepy
the commission was created. 1t was
| planned TO conduct inquiries along;
four general lines into the costs sur
i rounding food, fuel clothing and
! housing. four neCea3ities of life. The
1 commission was halted by an injunczs
tion obtained by steel and coal COR
| porations, who questioned the right
of the commission to obtain it's infoiS'
nation on the grounds that they (the+
/ coal and steel concerns) were en-
gagged in intrastate and not Interstate
commerce. Pending the Supreme
Courts decision, the commission has
halted all work along this general
line. -.r-
Another important function the,
commission IL carrying out involves
| obtaining facts regarding the ecoC
nomic trend in certain industries.
these facts being ordered by con-
gressional committees of inquiry. The
commission has encountered little op4l
position, but great corporation frolns
business in general, chiefly. perhaps
because all facts furnished the conit,.
7 mission are treated as strictly con-
fidentfal and used only in the aggre-
gate. " tth no specific cases ever be-
coming public. ~
~ l,-.s
lG.P.O.Is Teaching