.Taxuary 11, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



29 



Many other features are embodied in the 

 bill which it is not necessary to discuss. 

 The control of the transportation system is 

 to continue for the period of the war, and 

 thereafter until otherwise ordered. 



Taking over the transportation system of 

 the country and operating it as a unit 

 makes without force all of the antitrust 

 laws. Instead of prohibition of the co- 

 operation of the railroads, pooling, etc., 

 there is a positive order that there must be 

 the most perfect combination of all of the 

 facilities of the country to give the highest 

 efficiency. So far as the railroad system 

 of the country is concerned, the antitrust 

 laws are abolished for the period of the 

 war. 



The War Industries Board 



The War Indu-stries Board is a creation 

 of the Council of National Defense. At the 

 request of this board the producers agreed 

 to maximum prices for copper, and for the 

 more important forms of iron and steel. 

 The prices fixed are the same throughout 

 the country, except such allowances as are 

 made for differentials due to freight, etc. 

 Since the demand exceeds the supply, the 

 maximum price is the price which obtains. 

 Therefore producers of copper, iron, and 

 steel sell at a definite price without regard 

 to who is the purchaser. Competition in 

 price is completely eliminated. 



These agreements have been approved by 

 the President. They have therefore the 

 sanction of the law so far as the purchases 

 of the government are concerned, since Sec- 

 tion 120 of the National Defense Act au- 

 thorizes (he President to fix the price of all 

 commodities for the government necessary 

 for the prosecution of the war. But agree- 

 ment upon prices for copper, iron and steel 

 paid by the public have no warrant in con- 

 gressional action. 



The prices are large reductions from 

 those which obtained before the agreements 



were made, but are much higher and in 

 many cases at least twice as high as those 

 which prevailed in the pre-war period. 



Also, by the request of the War Indus- 

 tries Board, the manufacturers have agreed 

 to a definite order of preference. Under 

 this priority agreement, first are to come 

 war orders; second, those which are, while 

 not directly for the war, of public interest 

 and essential to the national welfare; and 

 third, unessential commodities. Each 

 manufacturer obtains permission of the 

 War Industries Board to execute any order, 

 and further executes its ordens in accord- 

 ance with the preference rules of the board. 



Thus the War Industries Board through 

 request has secured not onlj' the agreement 

 of the manufacturers in regard to the prices 

 of steel, iron, and copper, but the prefer- 

 ence in which the work is done. The steel 

 and copper businesses are regulated to a 

 large extent in the same manner as food 

 and fuel are controlled in consequence of 

 Congressional enactment. 



Regulation hy the Federal Court 

 The Federal Trade Commission by the 

 direction of Congress investigated the print 

 paper business and reached the conclusion 

 that the control of this industry should be 

 taken over and operated by the government 

 during the war, and so recommended. 

 Action by Congress upon this recommenda- 

 tion is pending. 



In the meantime the Attorney General 

 brought suit against the News Print ]\Ianu- 

 facturers' Association under the antitrust 

 laws. The suit was not contested and the 

 court issued a comprehensive order that the 

 Manufacturers' Association should be dis- 

 solved. The Association and a number of 

 its officers were fined. At the same time 

 this was done the court entered into an 

 agreement with each of the firms making 

 up the Association, some forty in number, 



