Milford chronicle., 1934-09-07
DUPONT SAYS
OLDLAW FORCED
TOOTH ANDCLAW'
Business Is Merely An
Aggregation Of Individ-
uals To Do Something,
He Says.

Lammot dupont, one of the Ma
tion's far-sighted industrialists
clearly set forth the attitude of in
dustry upon a major present da,
problem in a letter issued for pub
lication recently pointing out tina
tooth and claw" competition before
the enactment of N. l. r. A. wal
compelled by antitrust laws.
Business is merely an aggrega
tion of individuals to do something
which a single individual can do
but far less efficiently and success
fully" MIR. du Pont said. His letter
follows:
"It is interesting to speculate
what is in a mans mind when he
uses a striking phrase in a public
speech. On August 8, President
Roosevelt made an address in which
he referred to two letters from i'm
portant men pleading that he say
something to restore confidence. In
reply to his inquiry as to what these
men would have him say. one sug-
gested that the President declare
that all supervision by all forms of
government, federal and state, over
all forms of human activity called
business, should be forthwith abol-
ished.
I'm his comment on this sugges-
ton, the President declared that
this meant that the old law of the
tooth and the claw would reign once
more I have many times speculat-
ed as to what the President had in
mind when he used the phrase last
quoted. Was he thinking of the cut
throat competition which was sup
posed to have existed before the
NRA came into existence?;; or was
he taking the suggestion literally
and barking back to the days of
savagery when there was no gov
ernment?
at hardly seems possible that the
President could have taken the sug-
gestion of an important man to
mean the latter If he was referring
to the days before the NRA, when
the cut-throat competition of big
business was supposed by some to
have brought on the depression, had
he not overlooked the fact that this
competition was brought about by.
if not compelled by. the Sherman
Law. which. passed in the 90's. was
supposed to create competition?
Surely. the President could not have
reasoned that the removal of gov
ernment regulation of business
would restore the old order, which
was caused by government regula-
tion.
ut would seem logical to conclude
that the President must have been
referring to the days before the en-
actment of the Sherman Law. Those
must have been the days of the law
of the tooth and the claw But it is
interesting TO note in passing that
those days of the SOS and the early
COS were the ones when the labor
ing classes of Europe were migrat-
ing to the United States in the
greatest numbers. | always thought
they came over to get the freedom
and advantages of this country. APP
parently. they came over because
they liked the tooth and claw bus
mess.
"The reader will probably con-
clude that the writer agrees with /
one of the two important men that
all supervision of business by gov
ernment should he abolished. Frank
ly. | do. But now wait; don't blow
up at once. Let me explain. /
mean that all government regula- I
tion of business. as such, and as dis
tinguished from any other forms of
activity. should be abolished. | mean
that business should not be prohib- ,
tied by government. or compelled by .
government to do things which pri- 7
vate individuals are not prohibited
or compelled to do. If have hole
in my back yard. as some residents
of western Pennsylvania do, and
employ a man to dig coal out of it I
for my own use, ! see no reason
why | should be allowed to treat
him any better or any worse, or pay
him any better or any less, than a
coal company. employing 10000 men
TO do the same thing.
Business is merely an aggrega-
tion of individuals to do something
which a single individual can do,
but far less efficiently and success
fully. Business should be treated as
an individual is treated-no better,
no worse"