The Age of Mergers I11
It is also a clear case of building up of selfgovernment.”

Similarly, William E. Humphrey, Chairman of
the Federal Trade Commission, has described a
“new policy” of the commission by “codperation and
stipulation,” which gives ‘“‘opportunity for an industry
 to do away with any fraudulent or unfair practice”
 and “to regulate itself, to clean its own house,
to make rules and regulations by common consent”
—in short, to “achieve decency instead of having
the government thrust decency upon it.”
[t seems clear, therefore, that only when resort
to codperation and self-government fails need the
“laws with teeth in them” be invoked under President
 Hoover. Moreover, many exceptions to the
law against restraints of trade have already been
sanctioned by Congress. In the Clayton Act it was
intended to exempt labor unions from the operation
of the anti-trust laws, but the Supreme Court in a
recent decision has so interpreted the law as to destroy
 the exemption. The power to approve agreements
 in “reasonable restraint” of trade made between
 competing American steamship owners fixing
rates and allotting tonnage, was conferred by the
Shipping Board Act. The Federal Reserve Act permits
 banks that compete in this country to cooperate
 in establishing banks abroad. The Webb
Act allows vendors of American merchandise to
combine in search of foreign trade. The Interstate
Commerce Commission possesses large powers to fix
railroad rates in order to prevent competitive rate-