What Jefferson Thought. I: N 1790 Jefferson, the patriot and thinker, wrote a letter to M. L'Abbe Arnoud, in which the following appears: "The annexed is a catalog of all the books I recollect on the subject of the juries. With respect to the value of this institution I must make a general observation. We think in America that it is necessary to introduce the people into every department of government as far as they are, capable of exercising it, and that this is the only way to insure a long continued and honest administration of its powers. 1. They are NOT QUALIFIED to exercise, themselves, the executive department, but they are qualified to name the person who shall exercise it. With us, therefore, they choose the officer every four years. 2. They are NOT QUALIFIED TO LEGISLATE; therefore, with us, they choose the legislators. 3. They are NOT QUALIFIED TO JUDGE QUESTIONS OF LAW, but they are capable of judging questions of fact. In the form of juries, therefore, they determine all matters of fact, leaving to the permanent judges to decide the law resulting from those facts." Would Jefferson Think Likewise Today? A Business Man Speaks. The Sherman Law; Corrective Legislation; Decision of Supreme Court and other timely subjects are analyzed from the point of view of the business man. by W. H. STACKHOUSE. HILE most of the other principal nations of the world have either military forms of government or are ruled by military parties, the unfortunate results of which are now being most sanguinarily illustrated throughout Europe and Mexico, we are fortunate enough to be citizens of a country where military rule is constitutionally prohibited, and whose heterogeneous population, peacefully engaged in the various pursuits of industry, has resulted in our country attaining its present pre-eminence in the entire commercial world, and towards the maintenance of which it should be the duty of every one to contribute. In view of the serious suffering our industrial life is experiencing at the present time, owing to the mischievous and impracticable efforts of men devoid of business experience, to revolutionize the country's business methods, it would seem not only proper, but unmistakably necessary, for business men to seriously devote their attention to governmental legislative activities. Sherman Act and Unlimited In 1890, owing to the prevailing opinion that large combinations of capital would secure a monopoly in cer tain lines of business, to the detriment of many individuals and small companies engaged in commerce, the Sherman Act was enacted by Congress, making mergers and combinations illegal and prescribing severe penalties for its violation.. This Act practically committed the country to the unlimited competitive system. The inadequacy of such restrictive policy soon became readily apparent, the result being that working men were underpaid railroads granted rebates and issued discriminatory rates, while the manufacturers pursued the same ruinous policy of selling their product regardless of cost. General disaster followed during the last decade of the last century. The Co-operative System. The absolute necessity of supplanting so destructive a policy with one both constructive and mutually beneficial to all concerned, was manifestly imperative; so within the dawn of the twentieth century the co-operative system was generally substituted for the therefore existing competitive system, and in greater or less contravention with the provisions of the Sherman Act, which was obviously inadequate to the proper necessities of mod ¶ The integrity of men is measured by their conduct, not by their profession.-Landour. ern commercialism, when conducted. on the vast scale that for years past has obtained in this country. Large industrial concerns engaged in rival lines, formed consolidations for the adequate financing and economical conduct of business in enormous volume, while labor unions were assembled into state and national feder ations. A long period of unprecedented prosperity followed, during which our exports and imports alone. reached in excess of four billion dollars annually, while our internal commerce ran into almost incomputable figures. The American workmen received higher wages than ever before, or than were paid elsewhere. Abuse of Power by Corporations and Unfortunately, however, and owing to the inherent cupidity of man, certain reprehensible methods were practiced by some of our so-called commercial trusts, both in the flotation of fictitious securities and by other means intended for the obtaining of monopoly and crushing competition. The labor unions, likewise apparently unbalanced by power, began to make unreasonable demands for further advances in wages, the recognition of the union, besides restricting output, and putting into effect the criminal and cowardly boycott. In addition certain labor leaders connived at and promoted many crimes of violence, some of which culminated in murder. the culpability of some, has only been. equaled by their cowardly silence regarding the frightful crimes committed in the name of trade unionism. Immediately following the presidential election of 1912, the business element of the country, while fully realizing certain reprehensible practices that had crept into our business methods demanded correction, entertained the profound hope that it would no longer be made the target of irresponsible muck-rakers and demagogues. They hoped some constructive and ensue, equitable legislation would which would relieve the commercial element of all doubt as to the methods it could legally pursue in conducting the country's vast industrial enterprises on the enormous scale heretofore existing, and commensurate with the country's pre-eminence in the commercial world. Ꮤ Corrective Legislation. ITH the convening of Congress in special session early in 1913, and in response to the President's message, numerous bills were introduced as anti-trust measures, radically revolutionary in character, to be supplemental to the Sherman Act. Owing to the time required for the passage of the new tariff and currency laws, these anti-trust measures were not reached until late during the regular session of Congress commencing December, 1913, at which time they were consolidated into two bills which were finally enacted into law in 1914; the Federal Trade Commission law and the Omnibus Clayton law, both possessing the prestige of presidential support. While the attitude of the general public has been consistently and vigorously condemnatory of the predatory and vicious methods pursued by both industrial corporations and labor unions as just related, the attitude of our public men and those in authority, not forgetting the muck-rakers, generally has been strikingly inconsistent. Business Depression. The vigorous and vociferous hostility they have constantly evinced against Simultaneously, with the introducall large industrial concerns, owing to tion into Congress of these anti-trust ¶Restraint is the golden rule of enjoyment.—Landon. measures, and their subsequent seri- intelligently as to how to proceed. ous consideration and active discussion, both in and out of Congress, the country's entire commercial element naturally took alarm at the manifestly inequitable and vicious character of certain provisions of the proposed measures. The situation became more aggravating as it became evident that their passage was being insistently urged by the administration. During the last half of 1913 a serious business depression set in that became more. pronounced and demoralizing in its effect as time went on, causing business to languish everywhere, with many thousands of men out of employment in all of our industrial centers, while the steel mills and the country's multitudinous factories were operated on an average of about 40 per cent of capacity, thereby creating for the country at large an unemployed problem of vast proportions. Ambiguity of the Clayton Law. The Clayton law is now a part of all existing national anti-trust laws, applying equally to the regulation of both foreign and domestic commerce. Among its other salient features, it prohibits, in Section 2, all discrimination in prices to purchasers, if the discrimination may substantially lessen competition or tend towards monopoly; while the same section specifically sanctions price discrimination, if made to meet competition, or on account of difference in condition, quality, quantity, selling or transportation costs. Hence, in the same section of this law, intended to specifically and clearly indicate to the business man the path he should pursue, in order to conduct his business legally, we are confronted with the paradoxical situation of price discrimination being both prohibited and sanctioned, thereby leaving the business men decidedly nonplussed and taxing to the utmost the ingenuity of the ablest attorneys to advise them In spite of this contradictory feature of the law, the President in a recent message to Congress, declared that "The road at last lies clear and firm before business." This conflicting provision of the law could readily create a most dangerous situation for any manufacturer, when considered in connection with Section 4, which provides that any person injured in business, as he would naturally claim to be if he lost trade through the price discrimination of his competitor, may bring suit in any Distrist Court of the United States in which the defendant resides or has an agent, and recover three-fold damages. Section 3 prohibits the execution of sales agreements that would prevent the purchaser from dealing in the products of a competitor, in spite of the fact that it might very readily be equally desirable to both seller and purchaser, to execute such a contract, while in no wise interfering with the manufacturer's or seller's competitor being represented in the same community by some other dealer or purchaser. Personally, and for obvious reasons, I do not feel that any man should weigh more than 145 pounds, though many of them do. However, I would scarcely feel justified in demanding that for that fact alone they should be discriminated against by the law in such a way that their existence would be either illegal or criminal, and my business affiliations with them, if absolutely straightforward and honorable, should be just as legal as though I confined my business relations to men weighing only 100 pounds. Sections 6 and 21 are unquestionably the most mischievous and vicious of all the provisions of this law, inasmuch as they contain the declaration Let the end try the man.-Shakespeare. that labor is not a commodity or article of commerce, despite the fact that it directly affects the price of all products. The sections in question, by their very ingenious phraseology, are particularly dangerous in their deliberate tendency to lend the impression to unprincipaled labor leaders and agitators, that they constitute a class above the law and are exempt from prosecution of acts that if committed by manufacturers, would be held criminal, to say nothing of the act specifically countenancing picketing. Significant Decision U. S. Supreme Court. Manufacturers and business men, however, it would seem, are justified in expecting wholesome relief from these inequitable and unfairly discriminatory provisions, as indicated in the recent very significant decision of the United States Supreme Court rendered in the case of T. P. Coppage, and involving the "Kansas Coercion Statute," in which decision was embodied the following: "Nor is the legitimacy of such organizations (labor unions) questioned, so long as they conform to the laws of the land, as others are required to do. There cannot be one rule of liberty for the labor organization or its members, and a different and more restrictive rule for employment and employers." favor of that other equally important and direct factor of business, labor, that the latter is expected to escape all of its just responsibilities, and has accordingly proceeded, blindly oblivious to the fact that labor is inevitably and correspondingly affected with capital, in everything that tends to cause either prosperity or depression in the business world, as is manifestly evident by the large numbers of men in our various industrial centers that have vainly been seeking employment during many months past. Expressions of Attitude by Principal Officials of Administration. Recent public expressions from some of the principal officials of the present administration, would seem to indicate a total lack of appreciation of the serious and widespread business depression that has been so long existent, for the reasons already referred to. In his speech at Indianapolis on January 8th, the President reiterated his previous statement that the so-called business depression was largely a state of mind, although in almost the same breath he inconsistently advocated the establishing of a Federal Employment Bureau; while Thos. A. Edison on the other hand, in a statement typical of the business man's point of view, said that these were the hardest times he had seen in forty-seven years; business having been largely paralyzed with excessive legislation. The Secretary of Commerce has so frequently issued his periodical prosperity circulars, so radically conflicting with existing conditions, that readily stamp him as one of the greatest writers of fiction of the present time. One of his inspirations was his New Year's greeting to the merchants and manufacturers of the country, bidding them to reach out for the prosperity which he alone sees within their immediate grasp. ¶ All may do what has by man been done.-Young. |