Januaby 11, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



31 



now face facts. The maximum price for 

 wheat and its products, for fuel of dif- 

 ferent classes; for copper, iron, steel; and 

 for print paper, have been controlled by 

 governmental action; and these are the 

 prices under which substantially all trans- 

 actions have been carried on. There have 

 been minor variations from those fixed, as 

 illustrated by secret excessive charges for 

 sugar; but as soon as such cases have be- 

 come known, prompt punishment has come 

 by compelling restitution or revocation of 

 licenses. Excluding from consideration 

 those dealings which have been made under 

 contracts enforceable in law and made prior 

 to the promulgation of regulatory meas- 

 ures, it is safe to say that more than 95 per 

 cent, of the dealings in commodities in 

 which maximum prices have been fixed 

 have been within those prices. 



It is to be noticed that this success has 

 not been achieved simply by enacting regu- 

 lations in regard to the maximum prices 

 and leaving to the police offices and courts 

 the problem of enforcement. All such at- 

 tempts at price regulation have failed ; and 

 any similar future attempt would be cer- 

 tain to fail; just as the laws against dis- 

 criminations, rebates, drawbacks, etc., for 

 the public utilities failed as long as left to 

 the courts for enforcement. These latter 

 measures succeeded when an agency was 

 created — the administrative commission or 

 board — whose exclusive duty it was to see 

 that the utilities laws were obeyed. 



In the case of the present suce.ssful price- 

 fixing movement, the controlling agencies 

 have even greater powers than the utilities 

 commissions. Through the license system, 

 they inquire into charges and limit them at 

 each stage of the process of distribution. 

 For wheat and coal, the agencies have had 

 also the authority to buy and sell the entire 

 product of the country; and, for wheat, 



the power has been exercised to the extent 

 necessary to accomplish the desired end. 



Therefore, the regulatory movement de- 

 veloped during the war has shown the way 

 in which the principle of maximum price 

 fixing can be carried out. This is not the 

 least of its achievements; for no one sup- 

 poses that maximum price-fixing can suc- 

 ceed, administered in an arbitrary manner 

 and irrespective of cost. It was the com- 

 bination of the exercise of broad powers 

 through licensing, careful inquiry into 

 cost, and giving due consideration to the 

 necessity for large production that success 

 in price control has been obtained. 



REGULATOET MEASITRES AND THE ANTITBUST 

 LAWS 



The facts presented show that for food, 

 fuel, copper, iron, steel, paper, and trans- 

 portation by land and water, the principles 

 embodied in the Sherman and other anti- 

 trust laws are directly contravened. 



The fundamental ideas of the Sherman 

 Act are that trade is controlled by the law 

 of supply and demand and that in manu- 

 facture and transportation all are on an 

 equal footing. Commodities are to freely 

 flow as required by competition. If there 

 is a shortage, the highest bidder will have 

 his necessary needs met. There must be 

 no cooperation in distribution. The com- 

 mon carriers must show no discrimination 

 in goods. If there is cross freight, this is 

 immaterial. The carrier must ship the 

 goods as asked by the shipper. 



Every one of these principles is directly 

 violated under the control exercised 

 through the war measures. Prices instead 

 of being variable are the same for the same 

 commodity at the same locality. For wheat 

 the price is to be neither higher nor lower 

 than that fixed by the Food Administra- 

 tion. For fuel, copper, iron, and steel, only 

 maximum prices are fixed, but since the 



