Evening star., 1938-01-24

bad wolf. but Mr.. Owen Young. one
OF the really great diplomats of the
business world. is okay. The fact
that the electrical manufacturing in
dustry Is probably the most complete
and efhcient monopoly In the United
States. with the exception OF the
aluminium company, Is beside the
point
am not attacking the Electrical
Industries Trust. They do an ex-
tremely good job But II you think
they do not have q magnificently
efhcient price-fixing apparatus, Just
get prices quoted from any Of the
few companies on, let us say, q tur-
bine, and see what the variation Is.
They would, no doubt. reply that sta
bility In so highly capitalized an in
dustry demands price administration.
And perhaps they are right. At any
rate, they are in relatively COM
Portable position, because Mr. Young
and Mr.. Swope are public liberals"
therefore good" and the utility COM
panies, their customers, being in the
doghouse. can't very well kick.
Don't Like Ford's Policy.
Similarly, Mr.. Fords economic
empire" Is denounced, although no
one could possibly call Mr.. Ford a
monopolist. The reasons for the de-
nunciation are other than the appar-
ent ones. The administration does
not like his labor policy nor his pol
ttics. This column is not defending
them. We are merely pointing out
that the distinction between good"
and bad is political and subjective
distinction. and leads us very dan
gerously away from the essential con-
stitutional conception Of equality be-
fore the law.
Mr.. Harvey Couch, for example, OF
the Arkansas Light & Power Co., is
good" Just why, have not been
able to figure out on any objective
grounds. seem to recall that a SEN
ator in a hearing before the Senate
Interstate Commerce Committee once
remarked that Mr.. Couch had glorified
his State Of Arkansas according to
the formula OF Flo Ziegfeld First
strip her and then glorify her. But
Mr.. Couch is a good, working party
member, who has always played in
closely with the boys. and he gets q
contract from the T. v. A. whereby
with the aid OF the American tax
payer he is able to purchase power
much cheaper than he could produce
it himself with no provision controlling
his resale rates. and with a provision
that no such control will be imposed
without two-year notice, in other
words. without giving him time in
which to build his own generating
plants. And. believe. this is against
specific provisions Of the law. Why?
And over In Jersey City We get
Mayor Hague defying the c. I. o. in
q manner to make Henry Ford look
like softy. But Mayor Hague Is
vice chairman Of the National Dem.
ocratic Committee.
Political Empire Grows.
One notices another thing. No
matter how much one may talk about
breaking up economic empires. the
while one separates the sheep from
the goats there is nowhere a tendency
to decentralize or break up the polit-
ical empire. On the contrary, when
the six New England States, encour-
aged by the White House, and under
the terms Of the Omnibus Flood Con-
troll Act. make compacts among them
selves to control the Connecticut and
Merrimack Rivers against floods,
and with the full approval OF the War
Departments experts and Of congress
sional committees. reserve to them
selves the power rights from the res
ervoirs. they find the administration
reversing the very compacts which it
encouraged, because the political en-
pire wants to build up super-hold-
ing company Of water control And,
OF course. the way to break the COM
pacts is to do what railroads. utilities
and holding compa nies have been &C.
cused. and often justly. Of doing.
bribing legislatures. This time by an
offer Of $1,000. 900 of Federal funds.
Ny distributist friends OF the New
Deal tell me that the administra-
ton only wants to consolidate the
political empire for the sake of crack