132 NINETEEXTH REPORT. 



safety and morals, and in so doing may even interfere with fundamental 

 privatf riohts. if necessary. The length to which the state may go is 

 voiced by Justice Holmesf in Noble Bank vs. Haskell, as follows: "The 

 police power extends to all great public needs. It may be put forth in aid 

 of what is sanctioned by usage or held by the prevailing morality or 

 strong and preponderant opinion to be greatly and immediately necessary 

 to the public welfare." 



The trend of the court is toward the recognition of the right of the 

 government to assert its authority to a greater degree in the affairs of 

 business. Prof. Freund+ in his work on the police })ower has set forth 

 the legal aspect as follows: "The justification for regulatiftg charges 

 in some particular business would usually be that it constituted a de jure 

 or de facto monopoly or enjoys special privileges; but it may also be 

 that the commodity selected is a necessary of life or that it is essential 

 to the industrial welfare of the community." 



It is significant that the courts in so many recent decisions have upheld 

 j)rinciples of the above nature pointing toward judicial relief for these 

 conditions. 



Why should tiiis policy be entered upon.'' 



It is the only method whereby the public can be protected from ex- 

 cessive cost for necessities of life, short of public ownership of the means 

 of production. 



Again it will be a means of effecting a fairer distribution of the product 

 according to the needs. Without such price regulation, the product will 

 be disposed of at highest price regardless of relative I'egional needs. 



Finally, it would place some limit upon the accumulation of excessive 

 wealth. The elimination of comi)etiti()n creates perilous situations in- 

 dustrially ill tliat it tempts men to seek undue profits. This tendency 

 [)revails in resj^ect to a very large number of products today and is a 

 condition fraught with far reaching economic and social possibilities 

 which it would seem must be met by some effective measures. 



Department of History and Political Science, 

 Michigan Agricultural College. 



tU. S. 104, I'lll, Vounfr. p. .11. -i. 

 JFreund — The Police rower, p. lisn. 



