The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-03
PRESS ON PITTsBURG PLUS

PKESS ON PITTSBURG PLUS / Although the decision hung fire for several years during which time the Fed eral Trade Commission has been viz orously besieged by representatives of steel production and fabrication in more than thirty states, finally the victory fell ~ to the consumers of steel, and the bur- densome trade practice known as Pitts burg plus, because it imposed the Pitts burg price plus the freight from Pitts burg on all steel purchased elsewhere, went into the discard. Although there were some notifications of the practice at different times and places, and under varying conditions, the assessment was < usually imposed and the bill was paid by the consumers of steel, bill amounting to tens of millions annually Perhaps the total will never be known, for the rami- fications of the charge were very de- vious.
 The press of the nation has been quite In accord against the practice and has almost unanimously approved the deci- sion Even the Republican, in far-away Springfield, Massachusetts, finds that outside of the steel industry, Pittsburg plus has no friends. The decision outlawing Pittsburg plus is probably the 2 most popular one handed down by the - Federal Trade Commission since it was '@' established by the Wilson administra- tion." We are obliged to the Republican for the reminder that the commission is product of the Wilson administration, like so many other of the influences that have been beneficially operative during the Republican regime.
 Although it does not lie in territory so adversely affected by the practice, the New York World observes: "The iS AL. Steel Corporation has been taking by vir- ,, tue of its commanding position in the in- dustry. It is practice involving arbi4 trary price-fixing, price discrimination and misrepresentation in costs of deliv- -~ cry. The corporation ought to consider itself big enough and prosperous enough to be above resort to sharp trade prac- tices of this sort" The New York Times finds that the faction of the Federal Trade Commission seems belated and out of relation to the facts as they exist to- day. For some weeks during the slow ing down of the steel business, prices have crumbled away here and there, and no great effort has been made to main tain them. This is inevitable, and has always been the rule during slack times in steel manufacture. When there is a necessary pressure to get rid of accu- mulated supplies, Pittsburg plus may, so far as the actual price named is con- cerned, seem very much like Pittsburg minus. Any convenient basis of price fixing is apt to go by the board when prices fall into flux."
 While agreeing with the Times that the action of the commission was be- lated, yet one must disagree with the thought that Pittsburg plus was thing of the past. Quite the contrary, for the seasonal situation bringing down prices was everywhere recognized as temporary, as that the season was at hand when the industry would recoup itself gen. erously for any price concessions made under stress of market dullness. It is significant that Judge Gary's public uts terances have not conveyed the idea that Pittsburg plus was already dead issue.
 The somewhat champion of privilege, the New York Herald-Tribune, doubts whether the order Twill settle anything" |" and makes this somewhat inappropriate plea: "One reason why the great eco- ' homie issues of the last few decades have never been settled effectively is simply that the nation lacks the legal and intellectual equipment to meet it's own problems. The public has never really appreciated the good as we'll as the bad ' effects of large corporate organizations in industry; the laws under which the public attempts to control them are shockingly accidental, and the general theory that big business is merely a toll erated nuisance seems inadequate to the demands of modern life. It is a fact which becomes apparent in decisions of this sort" To the average person, how '' ever, decisions of this sort prove just . the opposite. The Herald-Tribune will have hard time convincing the people of this country that they should submit to special taxation by big industries sim ply because they are big and have the power to do it. The public is not hostile to big business because it is big; but the public is properly hostile to the abuses b big business sometimes resorts to be- cause it is big.
 The Philadelphia Public Ledger caus- tically refers to Pittsburg plus as "phan- tom freight" and perceives in the deci- sion the first victory for eleven state legislatures, six million farmers and the people of twenty-eight Western and Southern states in their long fight against the steel industry. There is hardly farm CT in America who does not know and / condemn Pittsburg plus. Nor any steel user who has not felt the burden of what steel defends as an immemorfal GUS :om.' The New Orleans Times-Picayune does not display marked enthusiasm for the decision, perhaps fearing lest the re- suit may be loss of Pittsburg steel ton mage for that port, owing to the conse- quent inability of Pittsburg longer to compete in this Southern field. What any port loses in one respect will undoubtedly be more than made up in the increased prosperity of the contiguous regions as result of the abolition of Pittsburg plus
 In the view of the Memphis Commer- cial-Appeal, "the wonder is that such a manifestly discriminatory scheme has been allowed to continue so long" In dis cussing the good service of the Federal