The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-01-07

Ave thousand dollars. and by imprison-
men. in the penitentiary also for not Less
than one nor more than ten years, and
when a person is indicted for having been
a party to one OF the agreements that he
thinks should be called trusts" the old
time rules Of pleading that. from time
whereof the memory OF man runneth not
TO the contrary" have been thought
necessary to apprise the accused OF the
nature Of the charge against him. so that
he may know what IT is he is to defend
himself against are 10 be wholly dis
carded, and 1t shall be sufficient II the
Indictment states the effect or purposes
Of the trust or combination, and that the
accused was a member of, acted with. or
In pursuance of II. without giving its
name or description. or how or when or
where IL was created"
And when tho accused is put upon his
trial the character of the trust or COM
bination alleged may be established by
proof Of it's general reputation as such.
In other words, n man may be fined
8. 900 and sent TO the penitentiary for ten
years in a case in which he gets no no
tice from the indictment Of what he IL
charged with, and Is proved guilty Of the
charge by a street rumor.
Mr. withers certainly did not exag-
gerate the Importance Of his bill in his
lightning-express section Such radical
changes as these in our criminal proce-
dure are certainly OF the very utmost
importance. But we think the importance
of the matter consists in defeating and
not in making effectual the changes pro-
posed
So much for the way In which the
odious agreements that Mr.. Withers Is
going 10 have named as trusts" are TO
be brought to the condign We have not
space this morning to examine each
class Of agreements that is to fall under
the ban. but we will offer word or TWO
on one or more Of them
The first section Of the bill reaos as
follows:
.erhat a trust is a combination Of capt.
tai skill. or acts by two OF more per
sons firms. corporations. or assovla .iolS
Of narsons or either two or more OF thehl'
for either, any, or all OF 'hs io','"'"
"second To increase or reduce the price
If merchandise. produce, or commodi-
ties"
OF course. the Legislature Of Virginia
can use the English language as 1t
chooses. 1t is our mother tongue. and Is
"a free 10 us as water or the air. But
we saw. nevertheless. that such cornoi-
nation is not trust" and may not nave
tho first element Of trust confidence
in II The Legislature can call such
combination a trust" II it chooses, but
II could with equal propriety call 1t
vhirlvtnd or a mastodon. But 1t can
not make it trust. though. II can pro-
vide by a Walton law for tricking Hit
crate voters when they come TO vote Dut
its mower ends at the domain OF trust
and credit and confidence. These. God be
praised. lie away beyond the power and
control Of the Virginia Legislature ex-
cept as il may drive capital and enter
prise beyond the limits Of her boundaries
ana forbid them to re-enter.
But think for moment Of the agree
ment between two men for which Mr..
Wthers would send them to the peni-
Tertiary! He says that If two men agree
together to increase or reduce the price
Of merchandise or commodities they
shall go TO the pententiary. But Is there
a day in the week when two persons con-
stituting a mercantile partnership in
Richmond city DO not confer together and
resolve either to increase the price OF
their goods or to lower the price of them
Are merchants when acting as partner
shin 10 be forbidden to put their goods up
when the market is good and to put them
down when the market is bad? We have
no space for further comment on this
bill this morning. but this last remark
will be found, on critical analysis, TO APP
ply to every section Of the bill