Page:Earle, Does Price Fixing Destroy Liberty, 1920, 169.jpg

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THE AFTERMATH
169

out an understanding of which we cannot fully understand that Intelligence to which we must refer the origin and existence of the world has provided that the advance of mankind in civilization should be an advance towards the general enjoyment of literally boundless wealth. * * * Competition is indeed the life of trade, in a deeper sense than that it is a mere facilitator of trade. It is the life of trade in the sense that its spirit or impulse is the spirit of impulse of trade or exchange."

From every point of view, from every source of knowledge, the improper interpretation of the Lever Act; the view that it was intended to draw the very life blood of competition simply requires a belief that an Act passed to secure adequate supplies had as its ultimate purpose such a restraining of trade itself as has never been attempted, and that would inevitably reduce all supplies to a minimum.

Another instance perfectly clarifies the distinction between the Nash[1] and the International Harvester[2] cases, that has caused such perplexity to many outside of the Supreme Court, though not within it. The "discovered" rule there involved is that men have an inherent right of adequate opportunity for self-defense; this imperatively requires a sufficient certainty of knowledge as to that which they must defend themselves against. They must be given a clear standard of conduct to follow, if they are to be justly punished for not following it. No one seems to dispute that. But what has caused the confusion is overlooking that the "standard" need not be in any particular statute. If it be established either by Common Law or


  1. Nash vs. United States, 229 U. S. 373. 1913.
  2. International Harvester Company of America vs. Kentucky, 234 U. S. 216. 1914.