Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 24.pdf/348

 Index to Periodicals

315

account our high standards of living and expen and seeks to prevent any form of restraint on sive labor, we can only hope to compete in the competition inherently inequitable, without markets of the world by developing to their full overstating the_ rights of the competitor against extent our natural advantages in the inventive the monopolistic aggressor. ness of our people, the wide employment of labor"Trust Regulation and the Courts." by saving machinery and scientific management, and the perfection of our financial and business Harrison S. Smalley. Journal of Political organization, which is only a form of labor- Economy, v. 20, p. 326 (Apr.). saving machinery in the fields of distribution "The philosophical essence of our jurisprudence and administration. "Germany has a long start of us, as she has is still the theory of extreme individualism. been applying the methods of science to her The courts still cling to eighteenth-century ideas industries, while we have been trying political of the beneficence ofuntrammeled private rights. nostrums. Over forty per cent of the success of Their attitude toward government regulation German commerce is estimated to be due to of industry is therefore inevitably hostile. They tend to look upon such regulation not only as the wise national policy of encouraging the co operation of capital, instead of persecuting it contrary to the economic interests of the country as we are doing. Her old rival, England, is but as subversive, of the very purposes for showing many signs of economic distress, and which our government was established. Being there is a widespread feeling that war between empowered, therefore, by the Constitution, as them is inevitable from economic, not political interpreted by themselves, to annul any act of causes. ... If Germany is not checked by regulation which to their minds is unreasonable, war, England, already worsted in the fields of their tendency is to declare void many acts commerce, will be in danger of sharing the fate pronounced useful and necessary by the en of Venice, Spain, Portugal, France, and Holland, lightened sense of the age. . . . "After all, when you clear away the dust and all of which once ruleoT the world. If England is defeated, we shall in our turn find it very cobwebs of legal fictions and precedents and technicalities, is not the very idea of judicial difficult to retain sufficient hold upon the mar kets of the world to pay for our imports by review of economic questions an utter absurdity? Why should such questions be taken out of the selling our manufactures. ... "The motto of business in the past has been hands of industrial experts and assigned to 'Every man for himself, and the devil take the legally trained men for settlement? Would we hindmost.' Henceforth it must be, 'All for one, for a moment tolerate a similar procedure in relation to any other class of subjects? . . . one for all!"" "So from every point of view it seems to me "Industrial Combinations — Existing Law and clear that when trust regulation comes it should be purely legislative and administrative in Suggested Legislation." By Robert L. Ray mond. Journal of Political Economy, v. 20, p character. This does not mean, of course, that when questions arise incidentally which are 309 (Apr.). plainly judicial, the courts should be denied the A penetrating and helpful discussion. prerogative of determining them. Thus, such "The legislation to be adopted must appeal criminal prosecutions as might prove necessary favorably to the average man's sense of fairness. in the work of regulation would be brought in Right and wrong as the terms are commonly the courts, and suits for damages would probably understood exist here as elsewhere. That also be maintained in judicial tribunals. But which is permitted must appeal to the average there should be no judicial review of the reason man as right, and that which is forbidden must ableness of administrative acts." appeal to the average man as wrong. The law must not discriminate against the wise, the "The Economies of Combination." By farseeing, the successful, on behalf of the unskil ful and the indifferent. Competition and trade Edward Sherwood Meade. Journal of Political must probably always remain to some extent a Economy, v. 20, p. 358 (Apr.). "During a decade of unparalleled industrial species of warfare. Men of ability, brains, ambition, and imagination will win, in this development, the trusts, starting with every fight as in any other, over less capable opponents. advantage of large capital, well-equipped plants, The accredited and proper weapons to be used financial connections, and skilled superintend ence, have not succeeded. It is impossible on are satisfactory service and products, and cheap ness to the consumer. Blows struck from the basis of these figures to indorse the trusts behind with the bludgeon of unfair methods on the side of increased business efficiency. If must be declared to be against the rules. What we go no further than their record of performance, they have not justified the claims made for does this mean when applied to the combina tion idea? It means this — the law need not them. . . . "It is a reasonable presumption that the plan insist arbitrarily on competition: neither should of dissolution followed in the case of the Ameri the law accept it as a settled fact that competi tion is played out, and permit the combination can Tobacco Company will not result in the idea to be artificially forced. Competition must -sacrifice of any degree of productive efficiency, and that the separate boards of directors and have a fair chance. The legislation proposed and outlined by the separate staffs of officials may display greater energy and greater diligence in developing the author will repay study. Designed to supple ment rather than supplant the Sherman act, business than has been possible under the defines unfair business practices with clearness centralized control."