Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/673

 Mr. Untermyer’s Plan for the Regulation of Monopoly

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Then one dark night the phantoms came And met in old Westminster Hall To give their judgment, place the blame, Decide the question once for all. Coke, Blackstone, Leake and Littleton, Lord Mansﬁeld, Chitty, Hale, were there, And many others, one by one,

Filed up the dark Plutonian stair. They mulled the mighty question o'er, Then each his great opinion wrote, And slunk him back to Styx's shore

To sail with Charon in his boat. The multitude, the cranks, the wits, Into the Hall at daybreak went, Found the opinions, then threw ﬁts,

For every one was different.

Mr. Untermyer’s Plan for the Regulation of Monopoly R. SAMUEL UNTERMYER of the New York City bar has devised a plan for the regulation of the trusts. He would establish a commission to regulate the prices of com modities, with powers over industrial corpora

tions similar to those exercised by the Inter state Commerce Corqmission over the rail ways. A statement which he recently issued, setting forth this interesting project, slightly condensed, is as follows:— “It is impossible to ignore the fact that there is a deep-seated and growing distrust of both our political and ﬁnancial stability throughout Europe. Our manifest inability to deal promptly and effectively with corpo rate abuses from which we are suffering seems to have destroyed their confidence in us. Everywhere one is asked by thoughtful men of affairs as to the probable outcome of the pending suits and as to the legal effect of decisions in favor of the Government. The idea that some sort of ﬁnancial catastrophe is hanging over us seems to have become ﬁxed in their minds from their reading of the ill considered expressions of our newspapers. It is in vain that one explains that there are

no far-reaching results of any kind to be apprehended from these decisions, even if the Government wins; that the results will be largely academic; the property is still there; it cannot be conﬁscated; it still belongs to the shareholders, and it may at most take on another form. "Nothing more triﬂing or impotent from the standpoint of practical results was ever attempted by a. great Government than this political grand-stand play which is bound to lead to nowhere. The idea of disbanding

or dissolving or scattering the trusts at this late day seems unworthy of consideration.

Nobody seriously believes it can be done.

No

body will ever try it. “Every fair-minded student of the subject must admit that there are grave economic evils in the unchecked domination of any industry by a single corporation or group of individuals. These evils are emphasized in the industries in which it is necessary for the welfare of our people to maintain our protec tive duties-which is shielding the industries that have built up a home monopoly against competition from abroad. On the other hand,