OCR Text |
Show Published Every Saturday BY GOODWIN8 WEEKLY PUBLISHING CO., INC. F. P. GALLAGHER, Editor. JAMES P. CASEY Business Manager 8UB8CRIPTION PRICE: in the United States, Canada and Mexico 82.50 per year, Including postage $1.50 for six months. Subscriptions to all foreign countries, within the Postal Union, $4.50 per year. 8lngle copies, 10 cents. Payment should be made by Cheek, Money Order or Registered Letter, pay able to The Citizen. Address all communications to The Citizen. Entered as second-clas- s matter. June 21, 1919, at the Postofflce at Salt Lake Act of March 3, 1879. City, Utah, under the Phone Wasatch 5409. Ness Bldg. 8alt Lake City, Utah. 311-12-- 13 STATES LAWS CAN CRUSH LA UNDR Y TRUST The Citizen knocked some of the steam out of the laundries last week, much to the delight of Salt Lakes oppressed housewives. For months and years the housewives have protested in vain. They have met only with sneers and intensified from the laundry trust. If they voiced an objection, the laundry had some means ' of making reprisals. Insult was added to injury and injury to insult. Of course, the state has laws against monopolies and price fixing, but they are seldom used. That is due to the fact that there is rarely ever an organized movement against a trust abuse. A trust is a unified organization and is able to defy the public because of its unity and organization. The public, on the other hand, is at a distinct disadvantage because its protests are not organized. It sheds its rage upon the winds. Everybody has noted the appalling deterioration in laundry work in the last few years. And the trust now charges twice or thrice as much for poor work as it charged for good work years ago. The method of charging shows just how brazenly the trust operates. The laundries have a peculiar method of charging which, of course, was agreed upon in defiance of law. It is obvious that the laundry companies are in a combine to fix prices and even the methods of serving perhaps it would be more accurate to say the public. mistreating The laundries now impose a sort of double charge for each piece. The flat charge is seven cents and a half a pound for rough dry, and then an extra charge is imposed on every piece of wearing apparel. Thus the laundries exact double taxation. If they are permitted to get away with this method they, no doubt, will move on to new tyrannies. Perhaps they soon will be charging so much per square inch or portion thereof. Or perhaps they will copy after public service corporations and impose a ready-to-sercharge. If the downtrodden housewives continue to be oppressed they may emulate the corporation cormorants by organizing in opposition. A housewives union in Salt Lake might be able to destroy even a housewives if the laundry trust continues to fix prices, enforce tyrannical rules and give atrocious service. What went on behind the veil of secrecy while the laundry trust was in process of formation would make interesting evidence in court. No step ever was taken to stop the process, although, from time to time, there were rumblings which indicated that coercion and intimidation were being practiced to compel independents to join the ring. One of the conspicuous evidences of a monopoly is the deterioration of service. As long as competition exists service, generally speaking, is satisfactory, but as soon as monopoly is established service declines. Price fixing can be reached by law; so, too, can trade agreements that are the result of a conspiracy to gouge the public. The state of Utah has several statutes aimed to suppress price fixing and" the formation and operation of trusts and monopolies. Section 1752 of the Revised Statutes relates to Unlawful combinations. It provides that Any combination by persons having for its object or effect the controlling of prices of any professional services, any products of the soil, any article of manufacture or commerce, or the cost of exchange or transportation, is prohibited and declared unlawful. Section 1753 relates to members of illegal combinations who are guilty of conspiracy to defraud. Section 1754 relates to trusts and monopolies. It is as follows : Trusts Declared Unlawful. It shall not be lawful for anv cor- poration to issue or to own trust certificates ; or for any corporation, agent, officer or employe, or the directors or stockholders of any corporation, to enter into any combination, contract, or agreement with any person or persons, the purpose or effect of which combination, or agreement shall be to place the management or control of such combination or combinations, or the manufactured product thereof in the hands of any trustee or trustees, WITH THE INTENT TO LIMIT OF FIX THE PRICE, or lessen the production and sale trust octopus. of any article of commerce, use, or consumption, or to prevent, reIt could deal not only with the laundry trust but with all other strict, or diminish the manufacture or output of any such article, combinations in restraint of trade. It could see to it that public or to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce within the rifici.ils and magistrates do their duty. For example,, they could state. sce to it that Section 1755 relates to penalties for firms or corporations and the pure food laws are enforced. Section 1756 relates to penalties for individuals.- For firms and Only last week juiceless oranges were sold by the scores of dozens I at once of the State street markets without the slightest interfer- corporations the penalty is not less than $100 nor more than $2,000 ence from the authorities. for the first offense, and the penalties rise as high as $15,000 for These oranges brought a high price I and were worthless. subsequent offenses. I The Citizen would not be surprised to sec an organization of For individuals the penalty is not less than $100 and not more ill-treatm- ent ve - |