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Show STEEL TRUST'S VTEW OF THE LAW. The event of the week was the declaration of the directors of the United States Steel corporation that in their belief it was not a law-breaking organization, and that it was not contemplating any voluntary dissolution. This temporarily set at restSal arming rumors and checked the wholesale liquidation which began in the early part of the week, says Ilcnry Clews in his review of last week's market. The question as to whether the Steel corporation has broken the law unintentionally or otherwise .may yet have to be settled by the courts; if so, will mean a long and strong legal battle. The Steel trust is the greatest of all industrial combinations and as such is naturally the center of political attack. The fact that its securities are distributed on an unequalcd scale renders its position all .the more interesting and important. Commissioner Herbert Knox Smith has already called attention to the practical monopoly of the best iron mines in the country upon whieh the Steel trust places a high valuation, and this at least is likely to be an important point of contest. con-test. Probably it will not be proved or even alleged that the United States Steel corporation as a whole is a monopoly. That it has exerted ex-erted a large influence upon prices will doubtless be proved. It may also bo declared a practical monopoly in certain respects. That it has conducted hostile warfare upon any of its competitors will not be proved. In many respects the management of the United States Steel corporation is admirable and deserving of high praise, but in the present state of public temper and with such vital economic issues is-sues awaiting settlement, it seems 'hardly possible for the United States Steel corporation to avoid the strictest scrutiny of the law. Great fundamental issues are at stake in this controversy. The Sherman law aimed to preserve competition. The prime purposes of many of our great trusts have been to eliminate competition. The fact that they have sought to do so may often be difficult to prove, 'but their practical operations lead to no other conclusion. The supremo su-premo court has interpreted the main purpose of the Sherman law to be that of preserving competition. Mr. Taft evidently recognizes that his duty lies in enforcing the law. To Wall street the issue is both unpleasant and 11n.tim.ol3v Unpleasant because it seriously disarranges dis-arranges existing methods; untimely because when other troubles are thick it compels a readjustment that will be far"-rcaching in effect and involve much labor and friction. The immediate outcome is certainly disturbing. The later consequences, however, will be beneficial. bene-ficial. The breaking up of the monopolies will disarm public criticism, criti-cism, avert many attacks upon corporations and leave business less at the mercy of political demagogues. It will also serve to bring tile country into a safer and sounder economic position. The control of prices by great organizations had something to "do with the present high cost of living. Naturally, all these organisations resisted every downward tendency of the markets, which otherwise would have declined de-clined more rapidly to lower levels. They also systematically restricted re-stricted production. The power of the trusts on prices, however, is partly exaggerated. Incidentally the breaking up of these monopolistic monopolis-tic combinations will prove the most telling blow against Socialism which has been struck in many years. The worst of this agitation is that it comes when the markets are already disturbed by international interna-tional politics, by war rumors, by railroad strikes, by trade reaction, reac-tion, by coming tariff revision and other untoward events. |