THE MISSOURI OUSTER CASES 



603 



The same paper goes farther and 

 touches on a social aspect of the matter 

 in pointing out that : 



"The manufacturer, the merchant and the 

 banker have been the trinity that has led the 

 progress of the world ; but now the educator, 

 the legislator, the lawyer, are reasserting 

 themselves and are seeking to relegate to 

 their once despised position the forces back 

 of real progress." 



This paper also discusses the funda- 

 mental idea in lumber organization, 

 namely, that of cooperation : 



"The country thought that it had discov- 

 ered something worth while in the idea of 

 cooperation as a substitute for competition. 

 Competition was the mother of trusts, the 

 chief means by which the rich were made 

 richer and the poor poorer. It separated 

 classes and was essentially undemocratic in 

 a great democracy like ours. On the other 

 hand, cooperation backed by sound intelli- 

 gence and good will promised, in spite of 

 possible abuses, to solve many of our modern 

 difficulties. Xow it seems, because coopera- 

 tion may be abused, that we are going back 

 to the unlimited evils of unlimited competi- 

 tion. 



"And all this means that the modern busi- 

 ness man and modern business are to be 

 pushed back fifty or a hundred years. He 

 is to be told by the dreamer, the idealistic 

 do-nothing, the demagogic politician, that he 

 the creator of modern civilization must 

 step into the background and let them to 

 the front. This situation is not one that af- 

 fects lumbermen only, but business men of 

 all sorts." 



As to what should be done, it says : 



"Lumbermen, representing one of the 

 greatest industries of this country, one of 

 the greatest sources of its wea'lth, must 

 stand for their rights as citizens, and not 

 only must so stand with each other but with 

 business men of all classes. Honest business 

 should assume the proud position that of 

 right it should occupy, and no longer cower 

 and apologize." 



The Lumber Trade Journal of New 

 Orleans, commenting upon the effect of 



the decision on the Yellow I'ine Manu- 

 facturers' Association, says : 



"Although the association was not a party 

 to the suit, the judgment of the court scores 

 it without justice or mercy. * * * The 

 association never iriade prices. It is strange 

 that the supreme court justices could not 

 understand the evidence that was brought 

 to their attention on this point. There was 

 no evidence that the association did make 

 prices, yet the court jumped to the conclusion 

 that a price list means price making. The 

 books of the defendant companies offered in 

 evidence showed there were as many differ- 

 ent prices as there were companies. 



"It is useless to criticize the opinion of the 

 court, as it will serve no purpose. The most 

 charitable way to put it is to say that the 

 court erred. Every lumberman knows that 

 it did not get the perspective of the case." 



Of the effect of the decision on the 

 Yellow Pine Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion, the Southern Lumberman, of 

 Nashville, says : 



"It would seem that the court could keep 

 the acts and practices of the lumbermen un- 

 der even better surveillance if they are oper- 

 ating through the Yellow Pine Manufactur- 

 ers' Association than if a new organization 

 under a different name should be formed. 

 The court has certainly had opportunity to 

 become thoroughly familiar with all the in- 

 side workings of the present yellow pine 

 organization. 



"It must be that the court has not as fully 

 considered this particular part of its fina'l 

 decree as it should have done and that upon 

 proper showing it will vacate the prohibition 

 as to membership in the association. The 

 court must recognize that there is a legiti- 

 mate field for organization in the yellow pine 

 industry. It must recognize also by this time 

 that there were many members of the asso- 

 ciation who were all the time in little sym- 

 pathy with efforts at price-fixing and curtail- 

 ment, and that there are many yellow pine 

 lumbermen who have for years refused t' 

 have anything to do with the association o.i 

 account of its activities along these lines ; 

 and, finally, that with all effort along these 

 lines abandoned and discontinued the asso- 

 ciation is in position to render more useful 

 service than ever before." 



