Article September 1, 2013

Business

David R. Francis

Originally published in the January 25, 1963 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

When federal district judge J. Cullen Ganey on February 7, 1961, found 29 electrical equipment makers guilty of ﬁxing prices and rigging bids, he commented:

"What is at stake here is the survival of the kind of economy under which America has grown to greatness, the free enterprise system. The conduct of the corporate and individual defendants alike has ﬂagrantly mocked that image and destroyed the model we offer today as a free world alternative to state control or socialism and eventual dictatorship."

Judge Ganey ﬁned the ﬁrms nearly $2,000,000 and ordered seven of their executives to jail for 30 days each. It was the words which stung the business community much more than the jail sentences.

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