Lots of talk, but little action

To the editor:With soaring prices of gasoline and other fuels, there is little effort put forth by our elected officials in Washington.

Federal legislators with long-winded oratory supposedly vent their anger over escalating prices and then pursue the matter no further.

They should be inquiring whether or not established law is being violated.

Price fixing is a combination formed for the purpose of setting price levels or ranges by competing companies, according to Black's Law Dictionary.

In United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., a group of major oil refinery companies were purchasing gas on the spot market and storing it to prevent prices from falling. They were convicted.

The court held this practice, whether in interstate or foreign commerce, was illegal per se under the Sherman Act. The court stated the power to fix prices is not necessary to establish an illegal conspiracy, only the need to prove an act of conspiracy.

In United States v. Container Corp. of America, the court held that even the sharing of price quotes and pricing information to a competition on request, regardless of how infrequent or irregular, was a violation of the Sherman Act.

Finally, the hearings in Washington remind me of a story about a preacher conducting services on an Indian reservation without success. He asked the chief, "What was wrong?" The chief replied, "Big thunder. Big wind. No rain."

PERRY MOORE, Dexter, Mo.