OCR Text |
Show ANTITRLST PROGRAMME Th o he measu es wh u op h n st programme of he a n n a u pas ed thp senat Ve n aba ote of o to lb e even Epub ans ot ng with the major tv an n emocrats k k ng over the par j aces The b 1 has been radi a amended s nee t left the house ut it is probable an agree nent will be reached by tho conferees w thout mu h trouble The chief po nt of debate n the sen ate was on the sect on making unfair compet tion unlawful and all at tempts to def ne such unfair compe tition were voted down The meas nre as it stands provides for a trade commission of five members to succeed to the duties now performed by the comm ss oner of corporations with greatly extended authority The powers of the comm ss on are divided nto two classes one of investigat on into the bus ness the f nanc al cond t on con duct and management of co porat ons engaged in internal commerce and the other for the issuing anl enforcement of orders aga nst unfa r competit on by such corporat ons An amendment offered bj Senator Cummins was adopted on the floor of the senate after the bill had left the hands of the committee This amend ment provides for a restr cted court re view of the comm ss on s orders s milar to the review afforded for the orders of the interstate commerce comm ss on An amendment by Pomerene of Ohio for p, broad court review was defeated The b 11 as it stands would require the comm ss on to make a formal f nd ing m favor of a corporat on when a practice complained of is found to be fa r and allows such corporations to have counsel at hear ngs An appeal to the courts is inevitable whenever the comm ssion decides that corporat ons are indulging in unfair competition and as the senate refused to def ne the term it seems probable that endless hti gation will arise and in the end it w 11 be necessary to pass some such amend ment as that offered by Eeed of M s souri The corporations are ent tied to know how far they can go in the con d ct of the r bus ness w thout be ng haled before the commission, and then forced to defend themselves in court Under the dec sions of the supreme court the Shern an ant trust law has been found strong enough to accompl sh the purpose for which it was intended and those who violate its provis ons do so w th the r eyes open and take the r sk of prosecution Had the Sherman law been more explic t however the so called comb nat ons in restra nt of trade would never have been formed for the best lawyers in the country d d not bel eve the law was being violated and e en Senator Hoar of Massachu setts who was cha rman of the senate ludic ary comm ttee and drafted the act wh ch bears the name of Senator Sherman took the same v ew regarding tbe operat ons of a concern vrii ch has s nee been declaied a trust Senator Hoa however n h s letter to the com panj reie red to stated that wh le he saw no wrong n the contemplated action at that time publ c sentimenK might be different some t me in the f u tu e in wh ch case what then appeared to be a legal combmat on would become illegal That t me actualfy arr ved Publ c sent ment demanded that the law be enforced in both sp nt ad letter w th the result that men who engaged n bus ness wh ch they conce ved to be lef,al and wh ch they were assu ed by lawyers of n ore than erd nary ab 1 1 was perfectly leg t n ate have been branded as cr minals In view of such exper ences it would be far better to anie'nd the trade conm ss on b U so as to def ne unfa r compet t on than to co npel the courts to define t after the comm s on has rendered a de c s on The Clayton antitrust b 11 is now be fore the senate as unf n shed business and w 11 be pressed for passage There are strong object ons to th s measure as it passed the house on account of the exemption of labor unions and or ganizations of farmers from the oper at on of the law Men m other walks of 1 fe very naturally iub st that it is class leg slat on pure and s mple and that the exempt on is made for the pur pose of catch ng the votes of the labor un on n cn and the fa mers In view of the approach ng campa gn however it s not probable this po nt will be very strongly pressed n the senate certa nlv not by thoBe who are to come up for election this fall But there tv 11 be cons derable debate and the n eas re amended n some respects be fore t s put through The th rd admimstrat on measure the one relat ng to the issuance of secun t es has been revamped to some extent since t passed the house as the result of Pres dent Tvilson s conferences with the bus ness men of the country It will be ready for consideration the mo ment the senate gets through with the Claj ton bill and ought not to take up much time in debate although there are several objectionable features as the measure stands In lew of the present s t at on t now seems certain that congress can get through w th the programme and adjourn bj the f rst of epten be w thout er much effo t fu thrr de a be ng u ele s as w as harmful to thp bu ness ot f ount |