Show washington snapshots by james preston from what ono one lears hears around congressional offices these days day 91 tiro the big trust busting campaign campala u likely lukei to be such a campaign after all ono one reason surprisingly Is that there biere dont seem to be as many big trusts to bo be busted as some folks apparently patently ly think by puro pure or other yle the antimonopoly anti monopoly drive was launched just a few days before the unemployment census wits was made public showing that were jobless and the public reaction what some hoped it ft would be few people were inclined d to blame vague monopolies for unemployment casual conversation in washington before and just after the regular session mission started showed what congressmen li lu general were thinking onu one person would say it a shame hamo what tho the big mono pilles aro are doing and ana another reply sure it Is but bul name me a big that ls Is doing doing cheso things tile tho original critic after after naming local utilities and railroads in certain communities and the telephone system would stop stol and the question quest loncer eer would point out that these alleged allege monopolies already were subject to the most rigid regulation ula aon by both state and federal agencies i then the critic forgetting the stiff competition that exists would suggest well how about steel and automobiles land the gues lioner would reply well automobiles are certainly better machines today than 10 years ago and yet the average price Is less than a decade ago it thordia there A monopoly there and he would add do you think that if there was a steel monopoly all of the companies would bo be submitting identical bids for government business Of course they one company would get tho the first contract with a low md bid and another would got get the second and so BO on the way a monopoly would act an interesting sidelight Is that after several radio speakers had accused 1 monopolies of fostering high prices that argument virtually disappeared the biggest reason of course was that the so call ed monopolies actually have had bad loss less fo do with forcing prices upward than any other group in society I 1 alter nil all as aa one congressman put lt it when unions force the cost of labor up tip and when the government forces the cost of raw material up the only thing the producer can do Is ralsa raise his bis price to meet the increased cost if he lie ho goes out of business despite this general attitude there will be a lot of talk before the lie session Is 18 over about strengthening 11 the antitrust anti trust laws but it will be largely talk and whatever ammend ments are put through wont be very stringent because washington la in and out of congress knows that if any weal weakness mess exists it ta is not la in the law but in the enforcement of present laws in III this ibis connection the national association of manufactures in a statement commenting on the mon aply chatter asked the alie question naturally arises it if there are arc such offenders why were they not brought to trial who are arc they what are their of fences why hae they not no nominea been prosecute ed cd chy are they tried on the radio and not in court there actually havo bem fewer antitrust anti trust prosecutions in recent years than tor for any comparable period since the turn of 0 the century the reason of course Is that the NEA ani tb tho e guffy coal act and numerous other tawa laws have hare a tendency to stimulate monopolistic practices and it la Is hardly cricket to tell a man an ho he must do something and then prosecute him bim far 91 it |