coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

42 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
trial Corporations is considering the question as
to whether monopoly should be regulated or exterminated,
the Department on Regulation of Interstate
and Municipal Utilities is working in a
field where there is practically no disagreement
with the contention that monopoly is a good
thing; that is, such natural monopolies as street
railway anel gas and electric light companies.
While competition in some form is desirable in
all other fields, publicists and special students of
the question today decry the establishment of
competing street railway lines, gas companies or
electric light companies, but with this declaration
they are also as insistent that there should be
adequate regulation by a public authority to protect
the people from inferior service and extortionate
prices.
The department will report its proposed bill for
regulation by the state of street railroads, gas
and electric light companies and other municipal
utilities, upon which it has been at work for over
eighteen months.
The committee in charge of this work, as will
be seen, represents all interests involved. The
members are: Emerson McMillin, President the
American Light and Traction Company; John H.
Gray, Professor of Political Economy, University
of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Milo R. Maltbie, Public
Service Commission, New York City; Arthur Williams,
New York Edison Co.,New York City; Halford
Erickson, Railroad Commissioner of Wisconsin,
Madison; Blewett Lee, General Counsel, Illinois
Central Railroad, Chicago; Franklin K. Lane,
former Interstate Commerce Commissioner, Washington,
D. C; Edward M. Bassett, former Member
Public Service Commission, New York City;
Franklin Q. Brown. Railroad Director, New York
City; William D. Kerr, Attorney, Chicago.
The Department on Regulation of Industrial
Corporations, of which President Low is chairman,
will present a report which will contain
recommendations of some general principles that
it feels should be embodied in any bill passed to
supplement what is popularly known as "the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act." A day will be devoted to
the discussion of vital questions involved in the
problem, such as:
Shall the size of industrial corporations be
limited? If so, what shall be the limit? Is there
a point at which corporations become so large
that they are un wieldly and therefore inefficient?
What answer, if any, is there to the showing of
the Census of 1910 that the output of individual
ownership and small corporations has been produced
at a less cost than in the case of their
competitors, the large corporations? What is the
difference between restraint of competition and
restraint of trade? Granted that destructive
competition is undesirable and uneconomic from
the standpoint of the public, how can competition
be so regulated as to prevent its reaching that
point? Can a regulatory system be devised that
will be effective not only in protecting the public
from the alleged evils that flow from a monopoly
or near-monopoly, but also in preserving the alleged
benefits of such monopoly? Should a manufacturer
be permitted to fix the price at which a
retailer amy sell to the consumer? Is the pricecutting
of department stores and other mercantile
establishments a benefit or an injury to the
public? Is the fixing" of prices or the, limiting of
output by farmers, permissible under the Sherman
Act? Are agreements between organizations of
working men and organizations of employers,
fixing rates of wages, hours of labor and conditions
of work, a violation of the Sherman Act?
If they are illegal, should they be made legal?
Should there be an Interstate Trade Commission,
fashioned after the Interstate Commerce Commission,
which would have power to pass upon
trade agreements, whether of labor, agriculture or
commerce? Should large corporations be compelled
or permitted to take out a Federal license,
their acts to be supervised by an Interstate Trade
Commission?
The Woman's Department, which is a rapidly
growing part of the Federation's organization,
will report on its various activities in its different
branches. An enumeration of the work of the
New York and New Jersey, the Washington, and
the Massachusetts and Rhode Island sections
alone would make an inspiring showing. The
department, however, has eight sections and they
cover a very large range of country and all are
doing useful service.
The developments of the year in Welfare Work,
which have been enormous, especially among large
corporations, will be a part of the report of the
Welfare Department. It will also propose a
permanent exhibit to give to employers standards
that may be followed, as it has been found that
many who are desirous of establishing proper
working conditions have small knowledge of highclass
features now existing in various enterprises.
The tipple and engine house of the Midway
mine of the Cambridge Collieries Co., Cambridge,
0., were destroyed by fire recently, involving a
loss of several thousand dollars.
The Truesdale breaker of the Delaware, Lackawanna
& Western Coal Co., during the month of
October broke all records for production by preparing
108,220 tons of coal.
The marine ways of the Monongahela River
Consolidated Coal & Coke Co., at Elizabeth, Pa.,
were burned to the water's edge Nov. 17. The
loss will be $1,000.