Evening star., 1938-07-10

nere-thAt relat-
ing to the issue
Of monopoly. He
Is just as vulner-
able on his other
points as he is on
that, for where can the President find 4
record to sustain his contention that
the organized opposition to him has
called for repeal of legislation provid-
ing old-age pensions. unemployment
insurance or regulation of security
trading?
Mr. Roosevelt said the school OF
thought opposing him proposed to "let
monopolies thrive unchecked Where
is there evidence to prove that conten-
tion? Can 1t be found in the 1896
Republican platform?
G. O. p. Denounces Monopoly.
No, it cannot, for that document
denounced monopolies in ringing
terms. Let me quote from the plat
form:
"A private monopoly is indefensible
and lntolerable. 1t menaces and. il
continued. will utterly destroy consti-
tutional government and the liberty Of
the citizen. We favor the vigorous en-
forcement Of the criminal laws, as well
as the civil laws, against monopolies
and trusts and their officials, and we
demand the enactment Of such addi-
tional legislation as is necessary to
make 1t impossible for private mo-
nopoly to exist in the United States.
I'VE will employ the full powers Of
the Government to the end that mo-
nopoly shall be eliminated and that
free enterprise shall be fully restored
and maintained"
ihere Is a clear cut, unequivocal
declaration of principle, and it con-
stitutes the last word Republicans As a
party have uttered on the subject of
monopoly. But can the President
point to evidence in the past history
OF the Republican party to indicate
that this declaration constituted .
thought Of the eleventh hour?
End q Robber Barons,
He cannot. It was . Republican
Congress and 4 Republican Presi-
dent who in 1890 gave this country
its first anti-monopoly legislation in
the form Of the Sherman Antitrust
Act. Prior to 1890 there was no Fed
eral legislation regulating industry and
commerce. The Republicans acted
In That year to put an end to the era
OF the robber bar0ns in business-and
they did.
Moreover, Republican administra-
tions undertook to enforce that law.
The period Of trust busting" followed
its enactment under the administra-
tions OF Mckinley, Theodore Roosevelt
and Taft. In that period the Standard
Oil, American Sugar and American
Tobacco trusts were laid low by action
OF the Federal Government.
Meantime, between 1890 and 1914
the Federal Bureau Of Corpora tions,
established In 1908 under Theodore
Roosevelt, continued the study Of
monopolies, trusts and restraint of
trade problems-studies which laid
the foundation for the Federal Trade
Commission and the Clayton Acts of
1914.
Stone Hit Hard.
But 1t Is not necessary to 20 so far
back to demonstrate that Republicans
! have been vigilant against monopolies.
In the two years and five months of
the Harding administration 48 civil
and criminal actions were instituted
under the Federal antitrust laws. In
the Coolidge administration the num-
Der totaled S2-with the then Attor-
ney General Harlan F. Stone, now Of
the Supreme Court, striking hard, In
the four years Of the Hoover admins
trstion IS actions were instituted.
More recently was It not Senators
William E. Borah and Gerald P. Nye,
two Republicans, who battled against
the monopolistic features Of the N.
r. A. and what that legislation was
doing to the little business man?
Contrast this record with that of
MI Roosevelt in respect to monopolies.
The N. r. A. was Mr.. Roosevelt's ia
vorite piece Of legislation-it not only
encouraged monopoly, it actually re-
laxed the antitrust laws. It en-
courased industry to do the very things
Tor which Mr.. Roosevelt and his ardent
solicitor general now are denouncing
them. When the Supreme Court ret
aside this act Mr.. Roosevelt unloosed
TRADE against the tribunal which
eliminated in his abortive attempt to
pack the high court.
RaoseveIt Aided Mnnouolv
And was It not Mr.. Roosevelt who
signed the Robinson -Patman Act?
Was it not Mr. Roosevelt who failed
to veto the Tydings- Miller price fixing
rider? For four years Mr.. Roosevelt
encouraged monopolies and monopo-
listic practices rs no previous Presi-
dent of this country ever has.
The truth Of the matter Is that
until the New Deal fell into the pit
Of its own economic fallacies eight
months ago, neither the President nor
any one else in the New Deal in q
position to influence policies showed
any sympathy whatever for restrict
ing monopoly.
All of which leads to the conclusion
that Mr.. Roosevelt Is far more inter-
ested in distracting public attention
from the failure Of his New Deal and
his economic misdeeds than he Is in
breaking up monopoly.
COOPERATION IS URGED
~ a1xsaa4r ,a,-,