Evening star., 1938-05-20

business men.
The object is supposed to be to bring
about fair competition" as between
large and small businesses But the
effect Of the new and extraordinary
use of governmental power is such
that it would not be surprising if a
reign Of genuine terror developed as a
direct consequence Of the policy.
Briefly. the new procedure which is
being tried out in connection with a
prosecution about to be begun against
automobile manufacturers and against
some of the big companies which
finance the installment purchases of
, automobiles amounts to something like
this:
The Federal Government holds a
gun at the head of the business man
and says in effect, We think you are
guilty Of crime in asking auto dealers
TO do business under your standard
lied finance plans which may be O. K
from the standpoint of the buyer of
an automobile but isn't O. K. as be-
tween you and the smaller finance
companies. who want a larger share
OF this business. We don't know for
sure. Your competitors have been in
TO see us and have made lot of COM
plants We think you are guilty.
We don't know whether We can secure
a conviction before jury if the case
does come to trial
Must Be Constructive.
"NoW We are not blackmailing you
or trying to extort anything from
you-no. not at all-but you know
<he address of our Offices in Washing
ton and you know our office hours, so
If you happen to come in to see us
voluntarily We will examine a pro-
posal that might get you out of our
clutches.
Now We cannot tell you what we
will do with these proposals They
must be constructive and must con-
cede far more than We could get if we
prosecuted the cases because a Grim
inal proceeding really doesn't settle
IN given case what an economic
practice should be in another case.
Likewise, We don't know precisely or
exactly what the antitrust laws re-
qure in these relations between deal
erS and auto finance companies and
the public because, to be sure, the
antitrust laws themselves are diff
cult to administer and we are asking
Congress for s500.000 to conduct an
investigation to tell us Just what We
trt to u
laws
Nevertheless if you come in with 4
plan that gives us a great deal more
than we have a right to expect from
a legal settlement, we'll, We'll take it
up with the judge and leave it to him
to say whether the grand jury should
file indictments against each of you
and subject you to public humiliation
or whether, where indictments have
been rendered already we. the Gov
ernment, should just drop the prosecu-
tion.'
Milwaukee Case Cited.
Not long ago Federal Judge Geiger
IN Milwaukee dismissed a grand jury
because at the same moment he
deemed improper negotiations were
going on between the Department Of
Justice and the auto finance COM
panies in an effort to force the signing
of a consent decree There were some
sharp words used about coercion and
unfair tactics. But the Justice De.
partment merely retaliated by trying
to get the judge impeached in Col.-
gress. Chairman Summers of the
House Judiciary Committee has never
made public his findings but the Wis
consin Bar Association sent its repre-
santatives to testify against the pal
pable effort to intimidate the Judge
by threatening impeachment.
Now, the Department OF Justice in
public statement, repeats its pro-
cedure reiterating that it never did
anything wrong in the Milwaukee
proceedings and will try it again before
another Federal judge, this time in
South Bend, Ind. The announcement
of the proceeding is brought out in
the open in advance of the filing of
grand jury proceedings. This at least,
is a new franknesS.
The Justice Department doesn't,
however, make any bones about its
desire to bargain with alleged crimi-
nails. The statements official text
says that in using civil and criminal
proceedings "concurrentlyu it is not
the purpose of the department to
coerce or compel the prospective de-
'-fendants to consent to a civil settle
ment on threat of criminal prosecu-
ton" but "at the same time it has
never been the policy of the depart
Ment to bar the doors at any stage of
the proceedings against business men
who may desire to propose practical
solution which is of major and i'm
mediate benefit to the industry, to