CONTROL THE TRUSTS BY CONGRESS 200 



I want to call attention to this law, not in a spirit of 

 criticism, but to show you clearly how far it went and where 

 it stopped. It undertook to invalidate all attempts to mo- 

 nopolize interstate commerce, which includes, among other 

 things mentioned, transportation, but it did not invalidate 

 monopolies of production or regulate commerce in such a way 

 as to free it from the restraints such monopolies directly im- 

 pose. The court did not say that these indirect effects upon 

 interstate commerce could not be prevented by congress. It 

 is earnestly contended by many that as it stands this law ex- 

 presses the limit of federal power in that direction. But has 

 not congress the power by its regulation to protect commerce 

 between the states from being restrained by state corporations 

 and combinations engaged in interstate trade, when their pur- 

 pose or effort is to destroy the freedom of such interstate 

 trade, and when their operations are besides injurious to the 

 general public? Regulation under such a power would not in- 

 terfere with mere production or the power of the state over pro- 

 duction. It would only affect them remotely and incidentally, 

 just as a monopoly that produces all or most of a certain line 

 of goods affects commerce indirectly. If it be true that a 

 state can authorize or permit a monopoly of production with- 

 in its borders because it has the power over production as 

 such, although it indirectly affects interstate commerce, may 

 not the United States regulate interstate commerce, over 

 which it has exclusive control, even though it indirectly affects 

 production, over which, as such, it has no control? 



If congress, under its power to regulate interstate com- 

 merce, may utterly destroy a combination and forfeit its prop- 

 erty in interstate transit, as the Sherman act provides, be- 

 cause it restrains such commerce, it seems reasonable to say 

 that it can in the exercise of the same power deny to a combi- 

 nation whose life it cannot reach the privilege of engaging in 

 interstate commerce, except upon such terms as congress may 

 prescribe to protect that commerce from restraint. Such a 

 regulation would operate directly upon commerce and only 

 indirectly upon the instrumentalities and operations of pro- 

 duction. 



Vol. 3-14 



