Evening star., 1924-12-31


the cattle industry.
But while agriculture had much to
do with the winning of the West by
the Republican party, this cannot be
said to have been true of the Eastern
sections of the country. An alto
gether different basis prevailed there.
but fundamentally it was made OF
the same issue, namely, confidence in
the stability of the Coolidge admin
istration and its unwillingness TO in
terfere with business by meddlesome
legislation or executive fiat
First Message Reassuring.
Although President Coolidge had
been in Office only short time, his
first message to Congress satisfied
the business men OF the country that
he was no radical and that he would
undertake no experimental step which
would injure the course of business.
His second annual message reinforced
that view. 1t is strange COM
mentary on the present attitude of
business toward government that
there is no longer so much clamor for
particular legislation with special
privilege in it, but genuine demand
that Congress cease legislating and
interfering with the processes of
business.
The fact that combinations in the
by law is an indication of how i'm
portant the business world regards
the opportunity to do business on a
! large scale. Some OF the largest
| mergers in American business history
have been accomplished " Without even
a murmur of criticism about big
trusts" and there is no doubt that
! the Department of Justice in Wash
ington has been free from the effort
fT ziga al raI fra
masses by assailing big business as
such.
Federal Trade Commission.
There is one institution IN Wash
| ington which bas worried the bust
ness men. It is the Federal Trade
Commission. That institution, founded
as a sequel to the agitation by Theo-
! dore Roosevelt that business should
| have the watchfUl eye of the Govern
ment on it, so as to prevent unfair
| competition, has managed to put its
| fingers on every conceivable phase Of
! American business life.
There has been talk of abolishing
| it, but the wiser heads among the
! conservatives realize that abolition
| of the Federal Trade Commission
! would lead only to a renewal of per
haps a. more furious warfare on bust
ness than is now being waged by
| the Government. Rather has 1t
| seemed to appear to the conservatives
! that the appointment of men to the
| Federal Trade Commission who will
exercise their functions judicially and
without stepping beyond the purposes
| of the law is the way to solve the
! problem.
| The general public follows the work
/ of the Federal Trade Commission only
| in a superficial way, but it is a fact
| that the commission has been used
| by businesses, large and small as a
means of warding off the oppressive
methods of an unfair competitor. The
| theory back of the Federal Trade
| Commission, of course, is violently OPP
| posed by those who feel that the
| Government should not have any
| thing to do with economic laws or
| the survival of the fittest in any COM
| petitive war. The Government at
| Washington, however, has been the
| refuge of the oppressed ever since
business began to be operated on
a large scale in America. Just
| as agriculture runs to Washing
! ton, SO do the oppressed business
men in the trades. The Federal Trade
| Commission is the only institution
here which can take up the cudgels
for the underdog when he is himself
| without funds to engage in endless
|
| There are other commissions in
| Washington which effect business
! very vitality, particularly the Inter
/ state Commerce Commission. but the
| complaints against the latter in re-
| cent months have diminished largely
| because the commission has been held
| within limits by the TRANSPORTATION
Act itself The commission can de-
| termine what are fair freight rates,
but only after il has given due con-
! sideration to the other phases of
| the law, which require that the roads
1 be permitted to receive a certain re-
turn on their investments.
Radicals VIII Not Rest.
| The radical group in Congress will
not rest until they have in some way
| modified the Transportation Act so
| that freight rates can be changed and
a flexibility imposed in the Interstate
Commerce Commission which it is not
now enjoying. The effort to get all
| roads voluntarily to decrease freight
| rates, which was a policy of Presi-
| dent Harding's, was not pursued by
| Mr.. Coolidge because of its futility.
| The program of consolidating rail-
ways so as to achieve greater eff
| cheney is now held forth as perhaps
| the way out of the difficulty When
| the roads reduce their expenses of
| operation by consolidation It is the
| hope of the administration here that
a cut in freight rates may be OBJ
| tanned.
Perhaps the most outstanding thing
| which Mr.. Coolidge has done so far
with respect to business is his an
| nouncement that unless some unfore-
seen emergency arises he will not
| call an extra session after next
March. He is content to leave Con-
gress to do its work in the present
| short session, passing the appropria-
tion bills and going home for a legis-
| latiye moratorium.
Foreign Relations.
In the all-important field of foreign
relations the year 1924 has been
marked by the greatest advances
since the close of the European war
For the Problem of reparations, which
has constantly beclouded the vision
of statesmen in all countries, at last
was reduced to something besides
argument and nationalism. 1t seems
an odd coincidence that in the same
year two men passed off life's stage
Woodrow Wilson and Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge-the two chief
figures in the ffve-year debate on the
degree of international cooperation
that should be given to Europe by
the United States.
President Coolidge, with the able
counsel of the Secretary of State,
Charles Evans Hughes, decided to
steer middle course between those
who favored the League of Nations
and those who advocated isolation.
The American plan first presented a
year ago in a speech at New Haven
by Mr.. Hughes, proposing that Amer
leans of expert training and knowI-
edge should sit with representative
business men of other countries, was