A violation of trust

The heart of the Industrial Revolution pumped fast at the end of the 1800s.

The country was expanding its railroads, developing its telephone systems and discovering powered engines. Everything was new, and the economy was no different. The old ways of earning money were getting turned on their heads, and businesses were searching for keys to higher productivity, lower costs and greater efficiency.

And then some people in big business had the bright idea of creating trusts with their competitors. It made perfect business sense. You could streamline production, guarantee yourself constant work and keep costs low for the consumers.

The problem was it also squeezed out the little guys in agriculture and small business, and they weren't about to go quietly. They had a political movement behind them, and they used it to get state laws passed prohibiting trusts. When the trusts countered by incorporating in other states, the federal government intervened.

And the Sherman Antitrust Act was born in 1890. Sponsored by Sen. John Sherman, a Republican from Ohio, the new law made illegal any contracts, business combinations or conspiracies that restrained trade.

Other than a brief tussle with trade unions in the early 1900s, the law never really got to flex its muscles until about 15 years after it hit the books. That's when President Teddy "Trust Buster" Roosevelt really put it to use.

Roosevelt's battles against trusts took place about a century ago on a stage that vastly differs from that of today. But the message remains the same: If competitors decide to team up behind closed doors, they're likely to get busted.

And that's just what happened when federal attorneys recently turned the Sherman Antitrust Act against Streu Construction Co., Manitowoc, and Vinton Construction Co., Two Rivers, for allegedly rigging millions of dollars in road construction bids.

If the charges are true, it's too bad for those two companies, their employees and the clients who now have to wonder if they were duped. But it's worse for Wisconsin's construction industry.

Image is a fickle concept, and, like it or not, the actions of a few have a way of damaging the reputation of the whole.

There's some irony in the idea of forming a trust. When a contractor gets caught in one, it's trust that the rest of the industry has to salvage.