Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-29

Great business and industrial mergers
and the ever-growing modern tendency
toward consolidation are receiving at
tention in the press, and there is much
uncertainty as to future developments.
President Hoover is quoted as hopeful
Of obtaining comprehensive information
on the subject, and Gov. Roosevelt OF
New York has been credited with the
belief that it might be an issue in the
next presidential campaign.
1.-The United States has been fighting
mergers for 40 years." says the Dayton
Daily News. ats efforts have been
about as If a palm-leaf fan were pitted
against hurricane. There seems to be
no stopping them"
ut cannot be commended" advises the
Baltimore Sun, that much of what is
going on now in the matter of mergers
and consultations meets both the spirit
and the letter Of the Sherman and
Clayton acts, as interpreted by the
courts and as generally understood. il
court decisions have left twilight zone,
it is neither so broad nor so dim as to
include combinations which obviously
affect competition between previously
independent units. And 1t IS interesting
to note that, in relation to these par
ticular laws, few insist upon the axiom
which declares the way to be rid or a
bad law is by rigid enforcement Anti
trust laws seem to be meeting the Fate
of laws which cannot be repealed and
vet arouse great opposition when en-
forced, followed possibly by far-reachng
political consequences"
* X X X
"It is difficult to believe" remarks the
Yakima Daily Republic, however, that
any political party would get very 1ar
with an attack upon these new comci-
q l.
nations and mergers. The public, nlgn
and low, is too firmly committed to them
to flock to the standard of deiiverer,
il his only foe were the commonly &C
cepted method of doing business in our
time. The fact is that the tenn
per Of the contemporary United States
Is not against bigness. Indeed, our ad-
miration of bigness is likely to bind
us to many dangers which it has
brought to the fore"
'There is growing conviction among
business men," according to the Great
Falls Tribune, "that competition is not
an economic cure-all, but has its vices
as we'll as its virtues. Competition is
often ruthless in it's operation. 1t fire.
Quently works, not creatively to serve
the consumer more acceptably, but de-
struetively to ruin rivals, or runs to
sharp practice at the expense Of the
consumer. An expression of individual
ism in industry competition develops
excuses which threaten to destroy indi-
VidualiSm."
eff business mergers are sound eco
nomically, and If economy and efficiency
are their theoretical Justification" in
the Judgment of the Chicago Daily News
''the public will find ways and means OF
compelling them to practice economy
and efficiency. Lame and ineffective
regulation can be converted by suitable
changes into adequate and beneficial
regulation. Senator Howell fears the
masses will be stifed, but that is not a
rational apprehension. Experience does
not warrant 1t. An intelligent and pro-
gressive nation will harness monopoly,
curb corporate cunning and greed, and
to concentration and combination. 1t
will not be necessary to destroy the
whole modern system in order to secure
genuinely fair dealing for the public"
X X X
1.-THE administration" records the
Newark Evening News, 'is concentrat-
ing upon an effort to learn, IL possible,
what must be the effect of the in
creasing trend toward larger and fewer
corporate entities, upon the spirit and
opportunity of American private initia-
tive. Tt is realized the antitrust laws
Presidents inaugural address is drawn
evidence, not only that Mr.. Hoover is
aware Of the problem, but that he has
given It thoughtful consideration with
special reference to its social aspect.
That the administration is seeking light
before attempting to find the answer Is
the conclksion the reader forms"