Evening star., 1933-05-07
ANTITRUST LAWS
BREACH IS LOOMING
Liberals and Conservatives
Both Take Prospect Of
Change Quietly.
~ the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
The end Of the special session may
ind holes in the antitrust laws wide
enough for the passage of the railroads
and q lot of other industries-but nei-
ther liberal nor conservative seems to
be alarmed about it.
For one thing. the trend is toward
controlled production just now. In his
address before the Chamber Of Com
merce OF the United States, President
Roosevelt referred to unfair methods OF
competition" and "cut-throat prices"
as business now is conducted.
For another, many who still see men
ace In big business combinations feel
the antitrust laws have failed and bus
tness in turn feels they hamper efforts
to achieve economy and bring order in
industry
In the farm and railroad bills. how
ever. the Government must give its ap-
proval to combinations and agreements
before the Sherman and Clayton acts
are waived. The laws may still be ap-
piled where the Federal blessing is
lacking.
Arose After Civil War;
The period following the Civil War
saw the rise Of the giant business COM
bfnations. loosely termed trusts, although
in 1888 there was pool Of brass pro-
ducers that caused outcries. and monop-
olies In one form or another have ex-
1Sted since the days Of universal barter.
Between 1875 and 1890 there were nu-
merous Investigations Of so-called trusts
and State laws were passed, but they
proved unsatisfactory Among the other
trust hunts, Louisiana was excited over
a cotton oil ring: Nebraska went after
q whisky combination and New York
looked into sugar combine.
Many bills that failed were intro
duced in Congress during the period and
IN 1888 both parties denounced monopo-
lies. The Republicans tn rather digni-
fed language, but the Democrats vigor-
ously asserted that the trusts robbed
'the body Of our citizens by depriving
them OF the benefits Of natural compe-
tition"
The elimination of the furore was
the Sherman antitrust law Of 1890.
bearing the name Of the late Senator
John Sherman Of Ohio It prohibited
under severe penalties every contract,
combination in the form Of trust or 9TH
erwise, in the restraint of trade or COM
merce among the several States or with
foreign nations"
Restraint Ii Defined.
1t remained for the Supreme Court
to define restraint Of trade" and the
rest Of the act. 1t did in series Of
notable cases The Government won
most of the important ones. and Theo-
dore Roosevelt during his term as Pres
ident vigorously cheered the prosecu-
tion.
Nevertheless, there was skepticism
over the effect Of 1t all. the cynical COM
ment being made in the House that the
trusts busted like an amoeba, each
unit growing as large as the old one"
The prevailing idea however, was that
more and stronger laws were needed
and this expressed itself in 1914 in the
Clayton act, drawn to plug the loop
holes in the Sherman law and to make
the penalties for violation sitter At
the same time the Federal Trade Com
mission was set up. one Of its princi-
pal duties being to keep an eye on big
business
In late years its investigations have
attracted more public attention than its
reprimands to the Industrial giants,
although it may have much to say on
what business shall or shall not do be-
fore President Roosevelt quits office.
May Follow Farm Bill.
There are hints that the Chief Ex-
ecutive will follow the railroad and farm
measures with one along the same gen.
eral lines to allow business generally
to escape the antitrust legislation, pro-
Hded it does what the Government
wants 1t to do.
The President Is known to feel that
ruthless minorities in business are re-
sponsible for much of the present chaos
by nullifying the efforts Of other units
to pay reasonable wages and work their
employees reasonable hours.
A sweeping bill to enable the Fed
eral authorities to make these come into
line in the general effort to restore pur-
chasing power to the country at large
would not surprise those who have been
watching the swift sequence Of events
Since March 1.