Union that has seen more of such evils than we have had in New Jersey. So, in all sincerity and earnestness I stood for the Clayton antitrust bill as it originally came from the House; but as I have seen it since it left the hands of the conferees, emasculated and changed, I have felt, as I have expressed myself before and as I express myself now, that it is not in the interest of labor. Even though there are some few lines in the bill favoring labor and laboring organizations, yet there is an evil lurking beneath it all which more than counterbalances all the blessings that might come to labor from it.

Mr. President, since I can not vote to recommit this bill, I shall then have to vote to reject the conference report. I can not believe that there is a man in the Senate or in the other House who would dare, in the face of the enlightened sentiment which to-day pervades this land, to stand up against legitimate labor organizations or oppose the declaration that labor is not a commodity. It would be his death knell politically; but, better and higher and loftier than that, I trust that no man would be imbued with the sentiment of considering labor as a commodity-lofty, honest labor, earning its bread, according to the edict of our God, by the sweat of its brow.

I say to these men: "My friends, men with whom I have conferred, men with whom I have advised as to the wisest and best way to recognize legitimate and honest labor, there are none of you in any State of this Union or outside of it that will charge, whatever my vote may be, that my heart is arrayed against labor in this struggle and strife for daily bread and butter. I oppose this measure because I believe that some influence-I can not say what influence, but some influence, it seems to me uncanny, dangerous to the Republic-has changed the text and character of the bill until it does not stand for the smaller man or the middle man, but tends to advance to further supremacy the giant monopolies that you and I, in both platforms, have pledged ourselves to destroy, and for whose destruction these many years we have struggled."

Since the ruling of the Chair is as it is, I shall have to vote most regretfully against this measure, trusting, believing-yes, knowing that the eternal principles of right and justice will again triumph in the formulation of another bill, and that it will not have to run the gantlet that this unfortunate measure seems to have had to run.

Yes; go ahead.

Mr. LANE. Mr. President, I should like to ask the Senator a question, if he will permit me. Mr. MARTINE of New Jersey. Mr. LANE. Does not the Senator from New Jersey think that the small bit of relief which is given in section 20 to the laboring man will cost him tenfold, indirectly, through the other provisions of the bill?

Why, unquestionably, sir. wise to his benefit?

Mr. MARTINE of New Jersey. Mr. LANE. And that it is in no Mr. MARTINE of New Jersey. None whatever. It is the cheapest sort of sop that can be offered to a laboring man. You have always, whenever you did get in power, saddled many of these men on the back of labor. You are the laborer's friend now, but in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred in which you have had the opportunity to declare and to declaim yourselves you have treated it as a jest and as an absurdity.

ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION

This bill in its entirety is responsive to the best and most enlightened standards existing among men. The Sherman law, so called, passed in 1890, and was enacted to meet a condition that was becoming intolerable, indefensible, and oppressive. This bill supplements that act without changing its essential features. The speedy enactment of this bill into law will mark a new era in the business development of this Nation. Preceded in this administration by the tariff and currency legislation, it is the culminating feature of the program promised by our party platform, indorsed by the people of the Nation, urged by the President of the United States, and now to be enacted into law by the Congress of the United States. When the historian comes to write the story of the Wilson administration and this period of our national development, I think it will be referred to as the great constructive period of our history. We are, I believe, happily emerging from an era in which the standard of business morality has not been a credit to the country; from an era of criticism which laid bare the unfair and oppressive practices of business, but had in it only the germ of construction which is now finding its full fruition in this pending legislation.

No more earnest effort has ever been made by any body of men in any assemblage anywhere to readjust business enterprises, to develop and equalize opportunity, than by those who have been following the guidance of President Wilson in the tariff, currency, and antitrust legis

lation.

SPEECH

OF

HON. JOHN J. MITCHELL

OF MASSACHUSETTS

IN THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 22, 1914

WASHINGTON
1914

SPEECH

OF

HON. JOHN J. MITCHELL.

The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union had under consideration the bill (H. R. 15657) to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes. Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Chairman, I think the Members of the House have been very much impressed particularly with the difference of opinion that appears to exist on the other side of the House. The senior member upon the Judiciary Committee on the Republican side of the House [Mr. VOLSTEAD] Substantially said that this bill did not do anything. After he concluded his remarks, the distinguished and able gentleman from Illinois [Mr. MADDEN] stated that the bill was too drastic. Evidently it did something, and now we have just heard from the able representative of the Progressive Party, Mr. KELLY, that the bill does not do anything, and the only section of the bill that he has referred to in his eloquent address he proceeds to praise and to commend. I think, Mr. Chairman, that the condition made so manifest this evening on that side of the House is a condition that existed among our friends for the past 10 or 15 years, since these organizations have sought to come into existence and since they have been developed. One wing of the party wanted to regulate and to legislate. Another wing of the party, where these interests were so firmly intrenched, did not want to pass any legislation, so we have arrived at this situation, that there has been vouchsafed to the majority party of this House the responsibility of responding, I believe, to the wishes and to the hopes and the aspirations of 100,000,000 people and writing into the law this antitrust legislation. [Applause on the Democratic side.] Mr. Chairman, I do not think that the senior Representative of the Republican Party upon our committee did credit or justice to himself when he stated that this bill was conceived and perfected in secret session.

I have been a member of other legislative bodies, Mr. Chairman, in the days gone by, and I have never served upon any committee that sought, as this committee has sought, the light and the aid of counsel and the assistance of business men from every section of the country. Why, Mr. Chairman, we counseled with the minority Members upon the committee in the perfection of this bill. Why, Mr. Chairman, we prepared three tentative drafts of this bill, and I believe that every member of the committee, Republicans as well as Progressives, offered suggestions in connection with this legislation. All of the meetings, as far as my knowledge goes, were open, and I do not believe that the gentleman intended to say that the majority members of this committee did not give opportunity to every member of the committee to participate in this splendid legislation.

Mr. SUTHERLAND. May I interrupt the gentleman in order to ask him a question?

Mr. SUTHERLAND. Will you kindly tell us what steps you took to get before your committee representatives of the coal mining interests in the perfection of section No. 3?

Mr. MITCHELL. Well, the committee gave announcement through the press of the country that they wanted the aid and the counsel and the assistance of business men in every line of business and in every line of effort. And I recall distinctly that the chairman of the committee, in the presence of the newspaper men, stated that there had been some misunderstanding on the part of some men that did not believe they had an opportunity to come in; and he said, "I want you to make this as plain as you possibly can, that we invite counsel and cooperation of business men in every line of effort." So it was spread broadcast, and, as a matter of fact, if the gentleman will examine the hearings which the committee held, you will find that very many business men in every line of effort appeared before that committee and submitted their testimony.

Mr. SUTHERLAND. Did, in fact, anybody who was familiar with the coal-mining business, with the production and sale of coal, appear before your committee and give information and advice with reference to the formulation of the ideas set forth in section No. 3?

Mr. MITCHELL. I think there was a brief filed. I do not recall any gentleman coming in and talking on that specific subject, but I think this committee had in mind the interests of these coal miners, and I am very sure that the members of the committee had in mind the interests of the coal consumers in this great country of ours.

Mr. FITZHENRY. Just to refresh the recollection of my colleague, I will say that Mr. Beck, of Chicago, representing the coal dealers and handlers, was there and testified and filed a brief.

Mr. MITCHELL. I am quite sure that is true, Mr. Chair

man.

For the third time in his administration the President of the United States, on the 20th of January, 1914, addressed the Congress. On this important occasion he pointed out the need and the necessity of enacting into law legislation "regarding the very intricate matter of trusts and monopolies."

Mr. SWITZER. I would like to ask the gentleman why these men were the ones selected as "goats" in this bill, and nothing was said about the lumber dealers? Why did you select somebody who was not in any of your districts?

Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Chairman, I do not believe that the members of this committee selected the mine owners or anybody else to be "goats." I do believe, Mr. Chairman, that this committee in writing this new principle-and it is a new principle of law in this country-are carrying out and carrying into the law what millions of citizens believe should have been the law years ago. We believe that God placed these minerals in the bowels of the earth, and when these men obtain title to the lands we do not believe that the minerals in the earth should go with the lands; and we believe that these minerals