Show STICK WAVES 1 AGAIN 1 1 Z q W J w 1 V va b Y government opens new antimonopoly anti auti monopoly campaign headed by trust buster robert H jackson revives favorite american political custom py by JOSEPH W la BINE the big stick is being waved once more in washington this time to an a accompaniment of sound and fury that makes the trust busters austers in the lusty days of 1900 and 1910 seem like so many baa ing sheep by comparison cracking down is pretty much the same old game only the terminology the amplification and the size of the field are different trust was the cry almost exclusively clu in the old days now we hear monopolies big business combines princes of privilege and sixty american families mentioned in the same breath A generation ago the antitrust anti trust campaigns were fought in the courts at comparatively small political meetings and in the press toda today they are arc fought in large measure over the radio with some of the governments able s tylre eaters stirring up millions of people in a long parade of special broadcasts in addition the current attack advances at one time in a vast number of directions that would have amazed and confounded the old timers but bu it which are characteristic of the tremendously increased scale of operation which the nation has come to accept from its government in recent years monopolies were originally scheduled to have been dealt with by the special session of congress which closed just before christmas but when it became evident that protracted wrangling was to keep even the wages and hours bill the executive reorganization bill or or any other of the must legislation tor for which the special session was called from being enacted the antimonopoly anti monopoly drive hii was switched P posthaste ait oit from the legislative chambers to the broadcasting studios Assi assistant siant attorney general robert haughwout Hough wout pronounced haughwout Hough wout jackson and secretary of the interior harold L ickes were the nos 1 and 2 cheer leaders at this writing jackson is rumored about to become united states solicitor general what these two and the president have said has been so widely heard and read that even the remotest hamlet is already familiar with it but what is the government actually doing not saying in this renewal of the old familiar war against trusts seek new laws the administration is again demanding that congress pass laws such as that re requiring the federal licensing of corporations which will strengthen the campaign against big business and monopoly president roosevelt is seeking the operation cooperation co of heads of large corporations po rations toward a planned economy which may or may not remove some of the alleged evils and the antitrust anti trust division of the department of justice has 29 antitrust cases pending determination by the federal courts these are the eil evidence dence on the record of what the government is actually doing their scope defies history to produce a precedent four acts in effect the sherman antitrust anti trust law of 1890 remains still the most important of the rules under which the battle Is being fought but there are three others the clayton antitrust anti trust act of 1914 the federal trade commission act of 1914 and the robin son patman paiman law of 1936 to protect small business men from chain competition now the administration seeks more As robert 11 jackson himself has said the antitrust anti trust law Ss Is an american invention it has served two noble american purposes it has kept the mushroom growth of 0 american industry from killing itself and severely injuring the p people eo in the period of its gro growing wing pains and it has provided excellent campaign material tor for ambitious politicians trust busting as the national political sport died at the opening of the world war from the time the sherman act was passed until the close of the first wilson ad administration there were a little over suits instituted by the government seven under benjamin harrison eight under grover cleveland three under william mckinley forty four under theodore roosevelt both administrations 37 under william howard taft and 18 under woodrow wilson then the thunder died down for a decade and a half inconsistent policy now since president roosevelt first took office in 1933 there have been 47 suits and more than halt half of them are still pending the interim between the two eras of trust busting brought incon to in the federal attitude which the administration Is determined to clear cle arpp w jackson speaking before the georgia bar ass association ocla lastman last las may 28 pointed out what he termed one of the most abl obvious us conflicts in our policy when he declared while the nation has forbidden monopoly by one set of laws lapsit it has been creating them by another patent laws valuable as they may be in some respects often father monopoly unless we are prepared to reconsider the conditions upon which we will extend patent protection we can have no no consistent antimonopoly anti monopoly policy most conspicuous example of this line lina of reasoning is the aluminum company of america against which the government had I 1 filed suit a month before e the jac jackson akson speech and which had so frequently been sued by the government without any co conviction having been obtained that it has come to be known as public whipping boy no 1 tor for the trust busters austers the company actually does manufacture all of the virgin aluminum ingot ln in the country today but explains the only reason there is no other firm producing virgin aluminum Is the enormous ca capital pital investment required to make mak eit it on a large scale the electrolytic process invented jn in 1888 1886 by charles martin hall made it possible for the company to reduce the price of aluminum from 8 a pound to 20 cents despite continually rising production costs but it is an expensive process the company now has sucha such a head start that no group of investors hasteen has been willing to risk the capital necessary to set up a competing business paradoxically the same govern Z N 6 IW v 1 I I 1 I 1 1 51 1 Y 41 sen ellison D smith ot of south carolina shows how he hurled burled americas sixty Famil families lesl the book which inspired secretary ickes recent monopolies attack to the he senate floor during a heated discussion sen jobiah bailey Balley of north carolina gaye gave the book its first heave to the floor robert II 11 jackson center Is the busy director of the governments trust busting forces lie he carries the double burden of prosecuting the governments antitrust anti trust suits in new york federal courts and of campaigning for the governorship of the same state lie he Is shown here with rep william P connery jr left and supreme court justice hugo dlugo L black before black was named to the high bench ment now prosecuting it protected the hall patents until they ran out in 1909 monopoly charges against the ethyl gasoline corporation earl C webb and john coard taylor also grow out of tho the manner in which the government protects pat patents entson on vital inventions new york headquarters jackson as head ot of the antl anti trust division has 20 new assistants costing to help him wield the war club and has opened offices in the new york federal courts building for the big drive western union and postal telegraph systems sare are due to be tried there and he recently succeeded in obtaining permission to sue the aluminum company compan y already operating under the consent decree of a pennsy pennsylvania federal court in newyork new york where he Is slated torun for governor this year yea r an idea of the variety and scope of other federal antitrust anti trust cases pending in the courts rna may be gleaned from a brief summary ofa of a handful of them jackson swears that the party dress guild inci inc is restraining interstate ter state trade in and misses party dresses dr esies monopolies are apparently making it something of a task tor for odd size ladies to get gel out but at all evento even to parties for he also charges the half size dress t sen william E borah of idaho Is the dean of trust busters austers now with senator of texas he seeks a federal law licensing corporations po rations as a curb on monopoly guild inc with restraining interstate trade in and misses half size dresses the protective fur dressers corporation po ration he says is skinning the public as well agthe as the more sprightly world of rabbits by restraining and monopolizing tride trade in rabbit skins local no of the international brotherhood of teamsters chauffeurs stablemen and helpers of america is charged with restraining the fruit trade the united sea food workers with tying up the salt water fish business and the Dairy da try mens association ltd with fixing the price of milk in honolulu oil defendants several oil company officials recently convicted at madison wis on charges of conspiring to restrain gasoline trade are making plans to appeal the verdict the antitrust anti trust division may have to fight an appeal from the inter circuit inc on a which agreed that thai the organization was i setting minimum admission charges for second run moving pictures and prohibiting the use of them on double feature programs federal investigations ore are being made of suspect suspected ted monopolies in the rubber cement milk and window products industries A federal grand jury in milwaukee wis was investigating monopoly charges automobile finance companies linked linke d with void ford chrysler and general motors but the court dismissed the grand jury without hearing its report much to the chagrin of the department of justice Justl ce more will probably be heard on this score which of these suits will be won by bi the government which may be dr dropped copped and which won by the defendants fend ants of course remains to be seen the record tor for the first era of trust busting up to a time shortly before the war was 42 persons imprisoned 1338 fined and decrees secured in civil proceedings western |