American Notes of the Week
(By Cable)
THE TRUST QUESTION.
Anti-trust suits started by the Federal Government against film corporations during the week provide the first concrete evidence which the country has had of the present Admin- istration's attitude towards one of the two major economic questions facing the United States. The first is the develop- ment of export trade, and as to this President Hoover has made it abundantly clear that his Administration will assist American industry to the utmost. As to the second question, the consolidation of industry by combinations, the Admin- istration's policy has been the subject of much speculation. Since Mr. Hoover's election mergers have gone on apace, and to an unprecedented degree, with some assumption that the Administration favoured the tendency. Moreover, the opinion has gained ground that the Anti-Trust Laws, applicable as they may have been in the Roosevelt era, require considerable modification if the economic progress now aimed at is to be achieved. Henry Ford, for instance, favours combining the whole electric power and light industry under one giant corporation. On the other hand, agitation against such mergers as we have had is rife and the issue promises to become an acute one for the legislatures. The whole subject has been given additional significance by the growth of cartels in Europe and the President's recent conference with industrial leaders here. What is the Administration's policy to be ? The answer is still in doubt and further Governmental action is being awaited with unusual interest.
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