Anti-Trust Lows 



(Continiud from page 11) 

 comprise industries whose ownership and 



control are highly concentrated 



It has been estimated that of his total 

 cash income, the farmer was obliged to 

 expend 27 to 40% for food purchased 

 in 1935 and 1936. Thus the great in- 

 dustries buy from the farmer and then 

 sell back to him again, and he is at both 

 ends of the transaction. 



The disadvantage of being both a seller 

 of raw materials and a buyer of the same 

 processed materials is proven by studies 

 of costs. 



In the 1925-1929 period a typical 

 working family of five was found to pay 

 for farm products |4ll, of which $196 

 went to the farmer and $215 for trans- 

 portation processing and distribution. 



By 1933 the consumer paid only |45 

 less for the same supplies but the reduc- 

 tion to the farmer was $104. The loss 

 to the farmer was double the saving to 

 the consumer. Where the farmer was 

 also a consumer he was held to high 

 prices and allowed only low ones. His 

 game was "heads I lose, tails I do not 

 win." 



Unbalancing Recovery 

 Not only had the antitrust laws proven 

 inadequate to protect the farmer but 

 the government found it necessary to 

 intervene actively to save him from com- 

 plete disaster by restoring the former 

 parity of farm products with farm pur- 

 chases. . . 



For the past five years we have been 

 slowly but steadily on the way to re- 

 covery. That recovery required a gradual 

 and fairly well balanced restoration of 

 price levels and of prosperity. 



In the early part of 1937 it became 

 apparent that certain of the great in- 

 dustries of the country had not been sat- 

 isfied to accept a gradual, but sound, re- 

 covery but had started a venture in prof- 

 iteering which was certain to throw our 

 price structure out of balance. The Pres- 

 ident early called attention to this. When 

 farm prices had recovered to 80 per cent 

 of the 1925 to 1929 average, farm ma- 

 chinery had reached 102 per cent and 

 building materials for the farm 98 per 

 cent. It was obvious that somebody was 

 unbalancing national recovery. 



The President has indicated that he 

 will propose a revision of the antitrust 

 laws. Powerful interests will try to re- 

 duce the revision to an idle gesture, they 

 will try to prevent any real price protec- 

 tion to the public and they will fight 

 with might and main any effective laws 

 stopping the growing concentration of 

 wealth and industrial control. 



It would not be possible or proper for 

 me to try to anticipate the President's 

 recommendations. But it is timely to im- 

 press you now with certain facts about 



HE NEEDS A LADDER 



the antitrust policy. 



Efforts to enforce, or efforts to im- 

 prove, the antitrust laws do not indicate 

 a hostility of government to business. 

 Every antitrust case is an effort to protect 

 some kind of business against some other 

 kind of business. It may be small busi- 

 ness struggling to maintain itself against 

 big business. It may be fair competition 

 fighting to save itself from unfair com- 

 petition, but always there are business in- 

 terests on both sides of the controversy. 

 Farmers have been wise to look to con- 

 trols rather than antitrust laws to relief. 

 Two Kinds 



Furthermore, the antitrust laws are just 

 as much in need of vigorous enforcement 

 in a period of recession as in a period of 

 rising prices. One of the worst evils of 

 a depression is that prices do not fall in 

 equal proportion. If they did so the 

 fluctuation of price levels would cause 

 much less injustice. But we find that 

 when the day of recession comes we have 

 two distinct kinds of prices. One is the 

 rigid price that holds inflexible or with 

 only a slight variation throughout a de- 

 pression. It is associated with the indus- 

 try subject to highly concentrated control. 

 Those industries reduce the volume of 

 output and maintain their prices. A re- 

 duction in the volume of output throws 

 men out of work. The rigid price in- 

 dustries must bear a heavy load of re- 

 sponsibility for depression periods. The 

 other kind of price is the flexible price, 

 for farm commodities, textiles and some 

 other prices that are not subject to con- 

 trols and that move upward or downward 

 with the ebb and flow of the economic 

 tides. When a man has to buy in the 

 rigid price market and sell in a flexible 

 market, as the farmer does, he then 



knows what monopoly at its worst can 

 do to him. 



I regard the revision and re-enforce- 

 ment of the anti-monopoly laws as a part 

 — and a necessary part — of the na- 

 tional recovery program. I do not be- 

 lieve that we can have a stable economic 

 structure that is half monopoly and half 

 free competition. Either we must get rid 

 of monopoly pegged prices or we must 

 find controls which will peg other prices 

 in relation to them. I, for one, do not 

 want to see the government go into the 

 price fixing business. Neither do I want 

 to see the farmer and those who can not 

 fix their prices starved out of business 

 by those who are better organized. 



Need Enforcement . .' .■ 



Pending the enactment of new and bet- 

 ter antitrust laws we will enforce those 

 we have as well as the courts will let us. 

 We will check manipulation of prices, 

 keep competition free of restraints, stop 

 the coercion of small business by big 

 business and restrain unfair competition. 

 Both the Federal Trade Commission and 

 the Department of Justice are pursuing a 

 vigorous policy of enforcement. 



The future of our antitrust laws will 

 have great influence on the kind of life 

 we are to lead on this continent. If they 

 fail, then the free opportunity of humble 

 men to engage in small but independent 

 enterprise, must pass away. We are en- 

 gaged in a struggle to keep from being 

 a nation controlled by a couple of dozen 

 corporations. That isn't Americanism 

 as we have struggled to create it. That 

 isn't Americanism as we stand ready to 

 fight for it. 



Faithful farm machinery usually has 

 a faithful owner who will see that it 

 is properly protected from ruinous 

 weather when not in use. 



The rate of increase of the popula- 

 tion of the United States is slowing up. 

 It is predicted by close students of 

 these problems that within the next 

 10 to 20 years the popluation of the 

 United States will cease to increase and 

 will remain stationary or decline. This 

 indicates that an increase in popula- 

 tion cannot be relied upon to solve 

 over-expansion of the production of 

 particular farm commodities. 



When washing dishes used for either 

 raw or cooked fish, about two heaped 

 teaspoons of baking soda added to the 

 dish water will deodorize the dishes, 

 dish water and dish cloth. 



Sauerkraut or "acid cabbage," com- 

 monly thought of as a German dish, 

 really originated in Asia. 



16 



L A. A. RECORD 



