Life & Mortality Quote by John Bates Clark

Clark is doing something economists rarely get credit for: admitting that markets run on law as much as on prices. His concern isn’t sentimental fairness; it’s operational clarity. If “a large section of the business world” can’t tell whether it’s breaking the rules, then compliance becomes guesswork, enforcement turns arbitrary, and capital starts treating regulation like weather - something to be gamed, insured against, or ignored until disaster hits.

The phrase “dead letter” is the tell. Clark isn’t warning that vague laws are unpopular; he’s warning they stop being law at all. Vagueness doesn’t simply create loopholes. It erodes the basic bargain that makes capitalism governable: predictable rules that let firms plan, invest, and compete without needing a private hotline to power. When statutes can’t be applied cleanly, enforcement becomes discretionary. Discretion breeds selective prosecution, backroom negotiation, and a business culture that prizes political access over productive efficiency.

That’s why he pivots to “an administrative commission” as a practical fix. In early 20th-century America, this is Progressive Era institutional thinking: Congress writes broad mandates, but specialized agencies translate them into workable standards and consistent oversight. Clark is making a legitimacy argument for the regulatory state, framing commissions not as meddling bureaucrats but as stabilizers - bodies that turn moralized antitrust impulses and hazy legislative language into a predictable operating environment. Subtext: the alternative to technocratic administration isn’t freedom; it’s chaos dressed up as liberty.