TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND.
3, 1900.
. : - . ZZZ Tl'
i 1 1 ii
NAT1QNALP0LIGIES
OUTLINED BY TUFT
Six Thousand People Hear Ad
dress at Armory in Which
Tariff Is Discussed.
INCOME TAX IS INDORSED
Large Hall I Filled to Capacity
With Enthusiastic Audience and
Thousand Are Cnable to
Gain Admission.
(Continued Prom First Page.)
en the powers of the Executive in pro
tecting resource from watfte and from
monopolistic control.
' Armory Is Filled Early.
Long: before tbe President reached
the Armory the rreat hall was filled
,to Its utmost capacity. Members of
the National Guard who had duties in
' and about tbe buildinfr say that people
went to the hall in the middle of the
afternoon seeking seats, which they
expected to hold until the hour set for
' the President's address, "ft hen the
! doors were finally opened to the as
sembled thronff several thousand per
sons were unable to train an entrance.
They banked themselves around the
' Eleventh street door and blocked the
"afreet in tbe hope that the President s
words could be heard through the wide
portal. Two or three thousand others.
( disappointed in not fretting into the
i Armory, assembled at the Tenth street
I entrance seeking; a glimpse of the
I President as a partial recompense for
i leaving their homes.
It was S:10 o'clock when the escort
' of 30 gray-haired members of the O.
i A. R. who had served as an escort
I for the President from the hotel to
J tbe Armory filed into the hall and
1 took front seats that had been reserved
for them. A few minutes later Presi
dent Taft entered upon the floor of
tbe ball at the right of the stage,
where uniformed rational Guardsmen
were lined up in salute. As the Pres
' ient stepped over the threshold a
band in the gallery struck up "The
i Star Spangled Banner-1 and the Chief
.' Executive mounted to the platform to
j look out over a sea of frantically wav
' log hats and handkerchiefs and a
: standing mass of wildly cheering peo
i Pie.
Applause Again Brcatd Out.
i President and audience remained
I standing until the National anthem had
been concluded and then Joseph Simon,
I Mayor of Portland, presented the Pres
I ident in a few simple words.
. Again there was a tremendous greet-
ing of applause and again the Prea
! ldent favored a Portland multitude with
! the smile of which so much has been
; Aside from the greeting accorded to
' himself President Taft aroused the
( greatest enthusiasm when he said that
i the Republican platform promised that
I this Administration would carry out
i the policies of Theodore Roosevelt and
i the Administration proposed to keep
tbat promise.
Law Should "ol Be Strained.
Hardly a shade less enthusiastic was
the approval shown by the audience
1 to the declarations against monopolies
,' and boycotts. These came close to
gether and in connection with his dis
cussion of the anti-trust law. The
President said that the application of
the anti-trust law to boycotts as they
affected Interstate trade was not con
templated in the framing of the bill.
In declaring that he would never coun
tenance a law that recognized the le
gality of boycotts, the President in
sisted, however, that the way to sup
press them was not In straining a
statute to meet a condition for which
the law had not been intended as a
' renedy. He expressed the conviction
that the anti-trust law should be nar
rowed so as not to be capable of such
construction.
The keeping of corporations within
the law In their operations was another
. Important theme of the President that
i ran through his discussion of the cor-
poratlon tax provisions of the Payne
! tariff law and his every utterance on
I this subject struck a responsive chord.
President Taft'a voice was in good
I condition and he spoke apparently with-
out effort in tones that carried to the
1 farthest recesses of the auditorium.
; President Taft was Introduced by
; Mayor Simon, who spoke as follows:
fallow CItlsena I bave the honor and the
; vsry greet pleasure of presenting to yoo
1 one who needs no Introduction at my bands,
I tbe President (Cheers.)
President Taft thereupon spoke as fol
lows: President's Speech In Full.
lAdiss end Gentlemen. Cltisens of Port
f land: I wish to extend to your distinguished
I Uuor and your people of this beautiful city
( tny heartfelt acknowledgement for the cor
dial reception which I have had at your
bands since reaching your city this room Inc.
I wish to tbank the veterans of the Grand
tArmy for the honor which they have done
ftn tonight in escorting me to this hail.
' (Cheers) I appreciate tbe motive of these
1 aa who helped preserve the XT n Ion. who
r recognise la me the Commander-in-Chief.
I under the Constitution, of tbat country
. which they did so muoh to preserve and
f'-seve, (Cheera)
I am coins- tonight, mr frlen. If my
r voles holds out, and your patience jolds out,
.to take a little review of the present Ad
it ministration, of what it bas done, and of
rwbat it has screed to do. In the first place
(the party of the Administration screed to
revise the tariff, and. In my Judgment, tbat
'agreement involved a revision downward,
l&ecausei. under the theory of the protective
rtmrtft after a ten years' trial, tbe effect of
;. competition ought to have made rates of
I tariff less generally necessary than they
were tea years ago. Now the tariff bill
which was passed was. In my jndgmsnt, a
I substantial revision downward, but it was
f not. in certain Important respects, a com
I pi lance with the terms In respect to the
i woolen schedule, and perhaps there might
She eorae other things mentioned of that
character, but the truth was, that the states
tbat were interested in the manufacture of
woolens and the states that ware interested
la the preservation of the woolen Industry
united together and prevented a change of
J that tariff, which had been reached by
' agreement after very difficult negotiations.
Bill Best Ever Presented.
Now the question was whether, because
that bill did not. In ail respects, comply
with tbe terms of the party, members of
. the House and of tbe Senate should decline
: to vote for It. aad the President should de
cline to sign it. After thinking the matter
over. I became convinced that It was my
highest duty to sign It. for tbe reason that
. wnile. In certain respects, it was defective,
it was. nevertheless, the beat tariff bill
which tbe Bepubllcan party had ever offered
to the people, and it was nsceasary that a
tariff bill should be passed. In order that
the prosperity which we were awaiting
should come. As long as there remained
unsettled the Important question of the
tariff, business would not resume with the
. prosperity and the energy and tbe enter
prise which it would have when business
oendittons became settled.
Again, we are engaged In running a gov
ernment by party, and because some of ns
are disappointed with respect to some things
that the party does not do. if we think that
f party considerations are of high importance,
r if we think that la ordor to accomplish
c anything we must bave solidarity of party,
! shea wajnay-srett -eiJ our personal pre
dilections with reference to some issues,
la order that we may maintain a strong
party front and accomplish affirmatively
the steps that we believe we ought to ac
complish. (Great applause). It Is easy
enough to break up a party: it Is easy
enough to prevent legislation but when .you
are charged with the responsibility before
the country of carrying legislation, then
you have got to have a party behind you.
(Great applause).
Problem of Tariff raw.
Now, that tariff bill not only affected the
tariff of the Vnued States, but it also pro
vided an additional means of taxation In
order to meet the deficit which was prom
ised, unless some other method of taxation
was added to that of the customs and the
then existing internal revenue.' At first it
was proposed to have an inheritance tax.
and I recommended that, but the Senate
found protests from all the states that
they had occupied Uiat field of taxation,
and that they desired the United States to
koep off that reservation. Accordingly, the
question aroee, what should we do?
It was proposed In the Senate to pass an
Income-tax law, to pass a law that had
been declared by the Supreme Court of the
United States to be unconstitutional. That
court had held that an income tax was a di
rect tax. and that a direct tax. under the
Constitution must be levied in accordance
with the population of statu. Nevertheless
there was a majority in the Senate of Demo
crats and Republicans In favor of passing
that bill unless some substitute could be
devised which would satLsfy the Republicans
who were In favor of an Income tax. and not
Involve the passage of a bill which had been
declared to be unconstitutional. Accordingly
it was proposed to have what Is now known
as the corporation tax, and also to pass an
income tax amendment to amend the Con
stitution: that Is, to propose to the statos
to amend the Constitution by providing that
an Income tax might be levied without ap
portionment as to population between the
states. And, accordingly, by almost the
unsnimous vote of both houses that amend
ment has been proposed to tbe people of
the United States, and the corporation tax
was passed by tariff blUT
Income Tsx Is Favored.
I propose, first, to allude 0 the Income
tax amendment, mhlch may come up at any
time In the Legislature of any of the states.
I sincerely hope that when it does come up
It will pass in each state (great applause),
and the reason why I hope so is that I think
that such a power in times of need and dis
aster is necessary for the Central Govern
ment to maintain Itself, and I would not
take from the Central Government a power
which in war Is necessary to save that
Government (great applause).
We had an experience in the Civil War
In respect to tbe matter. An Income tax
was levied, and It was supposed, by reason
of Judicial decision at that time, that the
Income tax was constitutional, but since
that time, as you know, by a late decision
I say late, In 1S94 or 189" It was held to
be unconstitutional. I am not in favor of
levying an income tax such as thst which
was provided In the bill in times of peace.
I am not in favor of It because I think it
will prove to be too inqusitorial as to indi
viduals, snd I think It will be found also
that It puts a premium on perjury, so that
the gentlemen whom you are especially after,
when you levy an Income tax, will escape,
and only those which are too conscientious
will pay more than their share (great ap
plause). In times of dire need it la necessary
that it should use such a tax, objectionable
as it is in certain of Its features, and, there
fore. 1 hope it will pass the states
Now, what la the corporation tax? That
Is a species of Income tax which the Su
preme Court has said was constitutional. It
proposes to levy 1 per cent on the dividends
of all corporations ss an excise tax. upon
the busine.s which they do as corporations.
Now. If I understand the decisions of the
Supreme Court, that Is held not to be a
violation rr the Constitution, because that is
not a dire.: tji:. but it Is only a tax on
business: I: I an excise tax. That brings
under Federal . r.trol in a sense and under
Federal supervi.-'tr. In a sense all corpora
tions. The tax 1" not levied on incomes of
corporations Use than 15000. but all corpora
tions for gain are required to file returns
whioh show their gross receipts, their ex
penses, their debts, bonded and otherwise,
and certain other general facts which will
show their conditions and enable the tax
gatherer to aseess the proper taxation.
Probe Slay Be Used.
It the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
srfall have reason to believe by evidence that
those returns are Inaccurate In any case, then
he may send an agent who shall examine the
corporate officers and the corporate books
and such other witnesses ss may be neces
eary to determine what the actual condition
of the corporation In question la
Now, that Is a quallfled publicity provis
ion with respect to all corporations of the
country and I think It Is an excellent In
cidental benefit of tbe corporation tax. It
is said It is not fair, becau.w on one side
of the street Is a partnership that is not
a corporation, doing exactly the same busi
ness thst the corporstion is doing on the
other side of the street. But the corpora
tion on the other side cf the street has
certain advantages In. doing its business
which are not enjoyed by the partnership.
One advantage, and a very decided one. Is
that the partners are liable In all their
estate for the debts of the partnership,
whereas the share-holders In tiie corporation
are liable only to the amount of their
stock, or, under some state, constitutions, to
double that. Again, the corporation lives
forever: a partnership dies with the death
of one of the partners. Other advantages
may occur to you, but those two are suf
ficient to make a distinction. If the cor
poration does not choose to continue, end
they can divide back again Into a partner
ship, they can do so. and nobody will oharge
them a tax. but as long as tbey enjoy the
privilege of doing business as a corporation,
and carrying on their business with that
advantage, then the Federal Government has
a right to levy, and it aeems to me it is a
wise tax for the Government to levy. (Ap
plause!. It is not a heavy tax 1 per cent it Is
1 per cent on a year's income. If you own
ten shares of tlOO each, that Is $1000, snd
you receive 6 per cent: that would be $00;
and 1 per cent on that would be 60 cents.
It la not a very beavy tax. and I doubt If
It will reduce tbe dividend In the case of
any corporation, because a well regulated
corporation ordinarily does not declare all
of Its earnings into the dividends.
They have maximum and minimum tariffs
In other countries. Up to this time, we
have had none here, and every time we
wanted to get even with some country In
order to make that country come down and
do Justice to us, we bave had to appeal to
Congress to change the rates, and that was
a very clumsy and generally an impossible
thing to do, beoause Congress does not
want to cbangs one rats without changing. a
great many others. So this now transfers
that power to the Executive, and enables
the Executive to act without waiting for
Congressional action. 'What is going to be
Its effect? Not tbat we are going Into a
tariff war not at alL I sincerely hope I
shall not bs called upon to exercise this
power In a single case with respect to a
single country, because the existence of the
power is enough to prevent other countries
from exercising that discrimination against
us when they are advised thst we bave
weapons et our own with which to retal
iate. (Great applause.)
President May Employ Experts.
Another and most important provision
of the tariff is that which enables the Presi
dent to appoint or employ as many experts
as he sees fit, consistent with the appro
priation of $76,000, mads to assist him in
the execution of this maximum and min
imum tariff clause, and also to assist him
and otber effloers In the execution cf tbe
tariff law Itself. I construe thst to give me
power to appoint a board, which 1 have
appointed, who shall go Into this tariff
business thoroughly, who shall assist me
with respect to a knowledge of foreign
tariffs, whether they are unduly discrimi
natory, and if so, how; also to tell me of
the operation of this tariff, to tell me the
cost of things here, and the cost of things
abroad, and to explain to me what these
mysterious technical and business expres
sions In the tariff law mean. Tou bear a
great deal about the tariff, but I would like
to bave you take up a tariff bill and go
through It and then tell me what It meant
(Iaughter and applause.)
Islands Valuable to Coast.
Another provision of the tariff law Is
the section which declared free trade be
tween the Philippines and the United
States, and that, my friends, you are de
cidedly more Interested In from the stand
point of your pocket than 1 am, because,
unless I am no prophet at all, unless I know
nothing of the Philippine Islands, and am
no Judge of the business thst is to grow out
of our associations in free trade with them,
you are going to find a trade with the
Philippines that will grow each year, that
will become more and. more valuable to you:
that will become more and more valuable
to the Philippine Islands; so that when the
day cornea that we can say to the Filipinos:
"Here, we bave educated you all up to self
government, and you are at liberty to go
and become a separate nation, and cut off
our business associations and have a tariff
between us," yoo will find. In my Judg
ment, thst neither the Filipinos on the
one side, nor we on the other will desire
that severance. (Great applause.)
The corporation tax. I have said, needs
some Federal supervision over the corpor
ations, if you war to look Into the sta-
turtle, of th. corporation, and.. try MyyJbrbMtyvur car .buy
gaudy, for the apparel oft proclaims
the man. Shakespeare.
out how many there are in this country
and what business they are oolng ana wn.
earnings they are having and what their ,
expenses are, I venture to think you would
be in a mass of statistics In which yoo
would lose yourselves. The fact Is, there
are at present no means of telling what our
corporations are doing. In some states they
sre required to make reports, and in other
states not. All the difficulties that we have j
had In respect to the standards of busi
ness. In respect to monopolies, in respect to
those things that Theodore Roosevelt de
nounced (Great applluse). and Intended to
bring about leglslati'cci which should stop
all those things have arisen out of corpor
ations and the privileges which corpora
tions have been given. Now, 1 am not here
to denounce corporations, tve could not get
along without corporations; they are a nec
essary instrument in the business of this
country, and In its prosperity ; but as we give
them privileges, as we give them power, so
they must recognize the responsibility with
which they exercise that power, and we
must have the means of compelling them to
recognize that responsibility and to keep
within the law. (Prolonged applause and
cheers.)
Step Toward Supervision.
Ons of the things that enables us to keep
them within the law is to know what, they
are doing, for one of the things that a cor
poration does, if you do not supervise and
look closely, is to hide everything behind it,
and this corporation tax is a stepand a long
step towards Federal investigation and su
pervision I had almost said control, of ail
corporations. (Great applause.) Of course,
corporations within the state are state cor
porations, but they generally do a large in
terstate business, and after we have estab
lished this only modified and qualified super
vision of all corporations, we can begin to
classify and make mora acute and more direct
and more thorough our Investigation of those
particular corporation, that we are after. (Ap
plause.) I think, therefore, that thle Ad
ministration has something already to point
to In Its accomplishment; that It has passed
the tariff bill, that It has put free trade
between the United Statee and these islands,
and that It has taken a long step towards the
proper control of the corporations in the
passage of the corporation tax law. (Great
applause.)
Another thing that the tariff bill has done,
which has not been commented on particu
larly, is the provision called the maximum
and minimum clause. The European na
tions have not been slow in levying tariffs
themselves. And they have at times dte
crlminsted against us in favor of some other
country with whom they had friendly rela
tions. They have also at times Imposed such
restrictions hardly in good faith, upon- the
Importation of our foodstuffs, our lard our
hogs our beef snd other food products, which
we send over there, a. really to exclude us
from their markets; and they have done It In
such a way that it was difficult for us to
retsllate or to secure an amelioration of the
condition of exclusion.
May Protect Our Interests.
Now this maximum and minimum pro
vision leavee to the President to say whether
any country with whom we have business ex
erclees the power of unduly discriminating
against American products, and if it does not.
thea they enjoy the benefit of the minimum
or normal rate of tariff In coming Into this
country with their products. But if It doea
then the President shall refuse. If in his
Judgment, their provisions- sra unduly dis
criminatory against this country and in favor
of some ether country; if that Is found to be
the case, then the President shall .refuse to
proclaim that the minimum tariff Is in effect
between ns and that country, and thereby the.
maximum tariff of 25 per cent of Increase on
everything goes In force. (Applause.)
Why. It Is Just like so much Choctaw to a
man who Is not an eipfirt. and you take an
expert on a part of It and he will find that
a good deal of the rret that he is not an
evpert on is Choctaw. So what I wish to
use this board for. and what I think under
the law I have a right to use it for, Is to
make a glossary, to make an encyclopedia, to
make what to comparable to the United States
Pharmacopeia with respect to drugs, so that
when a thing Is completed and you take up
the tariff law and come to something you do
not understand, you Can turn to that par
ticular head In the encyclopedia and find out
what It means, find out what the exact rate
Is ad valorem, find out where the article is
produced, how many .factories In this coun
try how many in other countries are pro
ducing It. and in what quantity; find out how
It Is produced and what labor goes into It,
snd what the material costs here and abroad.
When we have that, we shall have something
upon which the Senate and the House and
the people can act Intelligently In respect to
the revision Of the tariff. (Great, applause.)
Carry Out Roosevelt's Policies.
Now my friends, that Is what has beeii
done What is there yet to do? In the
first place, this Administration was elected
on a platform that we proposed to carry out
the policies of Theodore Roosevelt (Cheer
and applause), and we propose to keep that
promise. (Great applause.) Let us see what
those policies were, speaking generaliM. I, had
occasion to say the other night that one Hit e
difficulty in carrying out those policies is
that there are sometimes Indefinite views as
to what those policies are; there are some
gentlemen, to ueo an expression that I have
heard good Catholics use when they say that
a man is even more Catholio than the Pope,
who are more Rooseveltian than Mr. Roose
velt (JAughter and applause); and when they
set a fad that Mr. Roosevelt may have heard
of or may not have heard of, but that tbey
are very much attached to, they like to
gather It In as a part of the Roosevelt poli
cies, and then If you do not subscribe to it,
they denounce you as a traitor to the Roose
velt policies.
Knows Roosevelt'. Policies.
Well. I was In Mr. Roosevelt's Cabinet
four years and bad some opportunity to
understand what his policies were. The
fact is. It fell to my lot to take the plat
form and discuss them, by his direction and
with his sympathy, and therefore, I think
I know pretty generally what the Roosevelt
policies are and what ths platform of the
Republican party meant when it pledged
the party In the administration. If elected,
to the carrying out of these policies. (Great
applause.) "
Mr. Roosevelt's chief policy was the de
termination to make the great corporations
of tills country obey the law, (Great ap
plause), and those great corporation. In
cluded two classes; the railroads and the
great Industrial corporations tbat, did a
large industrial business, and that had
shown a tendency to try to monopolise that
business and control prices and suppress
competition. Mr. Roosevelt Impressed upon
the country. Impressed upon Congress, and
succeeded in inducing Congress to pass what
was known as the Hepburn rate bill, and
that was for the purpose of enabling the.
Interstate Commerce Commission to fix
rates when complaint was made a. to their
unreasonableness. Up to that time, the only
thing that the commission could do was t
say. "We believe this rate is unreasonable,
and you must fix another rate"; but that
law said: "Now, wben you find that the rate
is unreasonable, then It is your business to
go on and fix a reasonable rate."
What Hepburn BUI Did.
The law gave greater power to the Com
mission in other respects In detail, which I
hall not dwell upon; but It contained a
provision for a court of review. There was
considerable discussion as to whether It
ought to do so or not. In my judgment It
ought to have done so but It did not make
any difference whether It did so or not;
there would be a court of review of a de
cision of the Interstate Commerce Commis
sion. A court of review arises from a con
stitutional right of a railroad company or
any other corporation owning property to
obtain from its use a fair compensation;
and therefore, if the rates were confisca
tory, to complain that It was property
taken away from them without due process
of law; hence the situation was this: It you
attempted by such a law to prevent re
course to the courts It would Invalidate the
law; if you gave recourse to the court, well
and good; If you did not say anything
about it, then there was recourse to the
court anyhow. So that tbe question really
was a moot one.
Xow, the friends of the measure, many of
them, dreaded the reference to the court
because It was thought that this would de
lay action and prevent a rapid fixing of
tales: and I am Inclined to think from the
reports of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission that this fear has proven to be well
founded, and that the reference to the
court, to the Circuit Courts and the Court
of Appeals has delayed the remedies sought
before the Interstate Commerce Commission,
so that we ought to make some other pro
vision in order to expedite those proceedings.
For myself, I think It wise, after a con
sultation with the Commission, and after
conferring with members of the Cabinet, to
recommend the establishment of one court
of five members to whom all such appeals
hall be referred. The fact that they have
no other Jurisdiction will make them ex
perts; the fact that they sit as five men
will enable them to dispose of the busi
ness rapidly, and then a case wall be ended,
except on an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Now, It Is possible to go into one of some
40 or GO United States Courts all over the
country and file your review or petition for
review of the decision of the Interstate
Commerce Commission. That produces con
flict of decisions between a Judge in Ore
gon and a Judge In Massachusetts, and
prevents tnat uniformity which is wanted,
necessarily, to establish the proper rights
and proper conduct of railroad companies.
Then there are some otber features
which cught to be amended in the
Hepburn bill, whlcb I shall not stop
to, call attention to, exP 3 JZ
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108 Third Street
In the party platform epecfically was
provided a promise that a law should be
passed referring to some tribunal the ques
tion of how many bonds and how many
shares of stock every interstate railroad
company' may issue. In other words, a
measure to prevent the watering of stock
in the way In which It bas gone on hereto
fore. (Applause.) That Is important In a
number of respects. It' Is Important, of
course, because when you water stock you
only do it to deceive people and get them
to pay more than the stock is worth. That
Is the only object of watering stock. Again
it is wrong because when you come to de
termine what a railroad company ought to
earn, the owners of the railroad company
turn at once to' their stock and bond ac
count .and say, "Here are our shares of
stock, and here are our bonds, and we ought
to earn 5 per cent on our bonds and 6 per
cent on our stock." If they water the stock
and treble It beyond the actual property
they have, you see that requires they should
pay 13 per cent of what was the real value
of the railroad, rather than 8. In other
words, It affects, and affects most Injurious
ly, the rights of the public in determining
what a reasonable compensation for a rail
road shall be. Another thing Is that If you
pile up the stocks and bonds of a railroad
company in such an amount that they can
not even earn, no matter what they charge,
their interest charge and the dividend on
tho stock, you are going to have that com
pany In court In the hands of a receiver:
you are going to prevent the expenditure of
money needed to make It a good common
carrier; you are going to interfere with its
usefulness In carrying the interstate trade.
And there is where the Federal Government
has a right to step In and say, "We propose
to 'supervise your method of doing business,
even if you are a state corporation only;
you are doing Interstate business, and we
have a right to Impose such a limitation on
your method of doing that business as to
secure efficiency and to secure the best kind
of a railroad to carry goods and carry pas
sengers." (Applause.)
Anti-Trust Law Enforcement.
Then there Is the anti-trust law. That
law provides that any corporation or any com
bination or conspiracy in restraint of inter
state trade shall bespunished. It provides
also that a monopoly shall be punished in
Interstate trade. It Is a law most difficult to
enforce. It is a law that by Its terms is so
wide that It Includes othr restraints of trade
than those which are with Intent to monopo
lize or with intent to suppress competition.
And if you read some of the decisions of the
court by Judges who do not appear to be
friendly to the law. you wiir find that the
very fact that it seems to cover a great many
innocent arrangements which have a ten
dency to restrain interstate trade serves to
make the law ridiculous. Now. what I rec
ommend Is that the law be so amended as to
narrow it and confine It to combinations and
conspiracies to suppress competition and to
establish monopolies, and to leave out the
denunciation of general restraints of trade.
At common law general restraints of .trade
were not crimes, but men who entered Intfl
a contract that had a tendency to restrain
trade . were left to their own devices to se
cure lte execution. The courts would not
enforce it, but this goes' further and de
nounces - as a crime ail restraints by con
tracts and" combinations and conspiracies In
restraint of trade.
Labor Complaint lias Justice.
Now. what is the effect of that? One ef
fect has been that the Supreme Court has
held that a boycott levied against Interstate
trade is within that statute, and the labor
unions and others have complained that that
Is an extension of a statute intended to sup
press monopolies, trade monopolies and trade
suppression and competition, to something
which, while the letter of the statute permits
It was not intended by Congress, and was
not the evil at which Congress aimed. Now,
I am inclined to think that that complaint
Is not without good foundation, and that we
ought not to strain the statute to meet some
thing which In its original conception it was
not intended to remedy. I do not think
there Is any doubt about where I stand in
respect to boycotts. If there is. I will Just
state what I think about that. They are
illegal, and they ought to be suppressed. (Au-
P'l'would never countenance a law which rec
ognizes their legality, and I hae not hes -tattd
to say so for a good many years but
I do not think the way to suppress them
Is to take a Federal statute that was in
tended for another evil and make It apply
to them, although the letter of the statute
and doubtless the Judicial construction is
right, I am not saying anything against
that, I am not criticixing the courts, but I
am saying it Just has happened that the
letter of the statute covers their cases. J.I
th statute is changed as I suggest, the
letter of the statute will not cover their
cases. The labor unions have said they
would like to have a definite excoptl m, say
ing this statute should not apply to labor
unions. I would not consent to that at all.
Labor unions have got to obey the laws like
everybody else. (Applause.) And to In
troduce a apeclal exception into a statute Is
to introduce class legislation, and that we
do not approve in thi. country at all. (Ap
plause.) But if by language which nar
rows this statute and reaches the evil
which It wa. intended to reach, and reaches
it better than by language that Is broader
and gets in a lot of Innocent things In ad
dition, we can make it more effective, and
in making It more effective we leave out
its application to boycotts, I have not the
slightest objection. I think It Is a good
result.
Bard Law to Enforce.
Now the anti-trust law Is a hard law to
enforce. It is a hard law to enforce be
cause It is directed against something which
the natural tendency In the spirit the In
tense spirit of competition, leads business
men to. They wanted to avoid competition.
They wanted to get ahead of their com
petitors, and soon they would proceed to
unite with their competitors to drive every
body else out of the business, and they
would control prices.
Now, 20 or 30 years ago that seemed all
right. But when we began to realise what
the logical result of that was, and that If
It wwit on we would soon have every busi
ness In the hands of a few men, and we
would all be subject to th tyranny and
the greed of those few men. we saw some
thing had to be dene; and this statute was
passed.
Laws Are Better Obeyed.
Now the statute has been most useful
and I believe today that, due to Theodore
Roosevelt's efforts, and due to the crusade
which he, like Peter the Hermit of old
preached, there has been a new standard
Introduced Into the business of the coun
try (Applause): and that men consult
statutes now, and consult lawyers to know
what the lines of the law are. And it Is
our business to say to these gentlemen,
"Thus far sbalt thou go, and no further-
to point out what that line la It taks some
time for a series of courts to make a de
cision which shall be slain to the busi
ness world. But we are going on with this
trust law. and If wa amend It as I suggest,
we shall draw the lines closer and closer
and enable men to know what Is legitimate
business ou the one hand, and what is not
on the other.
Now. I have a great many friend. In
business, and have talked with them on
this subject; and I am convinced a good
many of them have a good deal to learn.
A nr.l.nttl
A. gwiUnianss,ld-tene; rjPa.ougJt to i
Ipecial Values at $25
. n r - t4tt ' tt rrn i nifi s.f".i. frpidig, tat MM 1 1 iT
At any price you choose vc
guarantee, the highest value
possible for the money. But
we'd like to have you see par
ticularly the values we offer at
$25.00. We give a lot of atten
tion to this special feature and
we know that at $25.00 vve are
offering the best clothes ever
produced at such a price'. A
wealth of choice fabrics, in all
the new models, both Suits
and Overcoats at
Copyright 1909 by Han Scbaifhcr St Mane
Other Good. Values at $15, $18
and $20 Suits and Overcoats
This Store Is the Home of
Hart Schaffner & Marx Clothes John B. Stetson Hats
Manhattan Shirts
Sam'l Rosenblatt & Go.
Corner Third and Morrison Streets
have a trust law that .hall permit u. reas
onably to regulate competition, so that
we shall unite to Prevent too f
tirion." Well, be didn't tell rne Just what
kind of a law that was going to be, ana
he diS not tell me. because be could not
teAgui, you will hear a gentleman say
that we ought not to have a provision for
these re5?ralSts of trade to uPP'.com
petitlon which shall be unreasonable; and
they only reasonably restrain trade, and
reasonably suppress competition and you
get a reasonable monopoly, wh, then i it
iV all right. (Applause.) Wei, I dent
know what a reasonable monopoly la (Ap
plause).
Reasonable Bestraint of Trade.
I do know what, at the common law, a
reasonable restraint of trade was; and I
will explain that to you. if you have the
patience to listen. I have got going. I
didn't expect to take thi. long, but this
is a subject most important, and I have
got started, and If you will only bear with
me I will get through.
(Cries of "Go ahead. tt.
The term, "restraint of trade," in Eng
lish law-common law our law referred
to contracts by which man agreed that he
would not go into business a certain kind
of businiss-iwithln a certain territory. Mw,
"at contract was enforclble at cmmon law
if it was reasonable. It It was unreasonable
t was"ot enforclble. Now, let us see how
the courts arrived at the question whether
a contract was reasonable or not.
The exception as to reasonableness was In
troduced for the purpose of enabling a man
who had made a good business, and got a
good will in that business to dispose of that
good will for a price, and to give It to
Someone else so that someone else might
enjoy it. As. for instance, if there is a
(C'p-icluo'ed on Page 5 )
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