State of the Union AddressesTaft, William H. (William Howard)
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State of the Union Addresses
Taft, William H. (William Howard)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
In the recent decisions the Supreme Court makes clear that there is nothing
in the statute which condemns combinations of capital or mere bigness of
plant organized to secure economy in production and a reduction of its
cost. It is only when the purpose or necessary effect of the organization
and maintenance of the combination or the aggregation of immense size are
the stifling of competition, actual and potential, and the enhancing of
prices and establishing a monopoly, that the statute is violated. Mere size
is no sin against the law. The merging of two or more business plants
necessarily eliminates competition between the units thus combined, but
this elimination is in contravention of the statute only when the
combination is made for purpose of ending this particular competition in
order to secure control of, and enhance, prices and create a monopoly.
LACK OF DEFINITENESS IN THE STATUTE.
The complaint is made of the statute that it is not sufficiently definite
in its description of that which is forbidden, to enable business men to
avoid its violation. The suggestion is, that we may have a combination of
two corporations, which may run on for years, and that subsequently the
Attorney General may conclude that it was a violation of the statute, and
that which was supposed by the combiners to be innocent then turns out to
be a combination in violation of the statute. The answer to this
hypothetical case is that when men attempt to amass such stupendous capital
as will enable them to suppress competition, control prices and establish a
monopoly, they know the purpose of their acts. Men do not do such a thing
without having it clearly in mind. If what they do is merely for the
purpose of reducing the cost of production, without the thought of
suppressing competition by use of the bigness of the plant they are
creating, then they can not be convicted at the time the union is made, nor
can they be convicted later, unless it happen that later on they conclude
to suppress competition and take the usual methods for doing so, and thus
establish for themselves a monopoly. They can, in such a case, hardly
complain if the motive which subsequently is disclosed is attributed by the
court to the original combination.
NEW REMEDIES SUGGESTED.
Much is said of the repeal of this statute and of constructive legislation
intended to accomplish the purpose and blaze a clear path for honest
merchants and business men to follow. It may be that such a plan will be
evolved, but I submit that the discussions which have been brought out in
recent days by the fear of the continued execution of the anti-trust law
have produced nothing but glittering generalities and have offered no line
of distinction or rule of action as definite and as clear as that which the
Supreme Court itself lays down in enforcing the statute.
SUPPLEMENTAL LEGISLATION NEEDED--NOT REPEAL OR AMENDMENT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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