The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-10-07
HIS DUTY TO ENFORCE LAW
Big Combine Promoter Terribly En-.
ragged at Attitude and Plain
Words Of President.

proceed against you or any of your
combinations as quickly as l would
against a striker, not because I am
opposed to either capital or labor,
except IS either of them is a violator
of the laws of the country
This, according to a special to the
Chicago Inter Ocean, is the exact
language used by President Roose-
welt in reply to the protests of j. Pier
pont Morgan against the action CT
the attorney general in bringing suit
against the Northern Securities COM
pany. Mr.. Morgan had come to Wash
ington to tell the president that At
torney General Knox had made q mis-
take and that the administration was
being used to bear the Morgan stocks.
President Roosevelt assumed the full
responsibility for his attorney gener-
ais action, and there made the reply
as printed above.
New Experience for Him.
1t al a new experience for Nor
gan. He had been sitting on a finan-
cial throne in New York, about which
crowded the men of finance and bus
mess, eager to have him take their
money and do with it as he willed, for
they believed that all Morgan touched
would be converted into gold. Other
men had tried to pool railroad inter
ests and the supreme court had said
it was unlawful. The attorney general
and the solicitor general of the Unit
ed States expressed the opinion that
the Northern Securities company was
another plan for pooling the interests
of two great transcontinental rail
ways. The president directed them
to proceed and enforce the law. He
did not hesitate because the two most
conspicuous men in this combination
were j. Pierpont Morgan and James
]. Hill. He knew they were the men
who would be made defendants in a
suit, but men counted for little as
against the law. President Roosevelt
looked to the enforcement of the
law.
Plots Against Roosevelt.
When he said this to Mr.. Morgan
the great financier was shocked. No
other man ever talked to him with
such frankness, comparing him with
a striker who breaks the law. He
went back to New York convinced
that Theodore Roosevelt was not quail
flied for the presidency and he began
planning to prevent the nomination OF
Roosevelt in 1904. He has been at
work on those plans eve since. He
wants a conservative president, who
can have the confidence of the "busi-
ness interests" Of the country. Mr..
Morgan regards himself and his COM
bination as the greatest factor in the
business interests, and, if allowed to
have his way, he would increase their
Importance before the election of 1904.
President Roosevelt has not sought
to interfere with Mr.. Morgan because
of business, or personal, or political
| reasons The offense he has given Mr..
| Morgan is purely incidental, due to
the enforcement of a United States
| statute.
The president has not changed his
attitude toward trusts. He, has never
| been a trust butser.". He admits
that much of the antagonism to trusts
is wholly without warrant, and that
the captains of industry should not
be hampered more than is absolutely
necessary for the public good. But
where a trust and its organizers vio-
late the letter and spirit of the law,
the president simply follows his oath
to execute the law. This is the head
and front of the presidents offending,
as Mr.. Morgan regards his action as
offensive to himself.
Newspaper Campaign.
Mr.. Morgan has done a number OF
things to show his ~displeasure with
| the president. At his bidding, it is
| claimed, a number Of newspapers in
the east have. waged a campaign
| against the presidents policy regard
Ing the trusts. They have sought to
prevent the Endorsement of the pres
| ident for denomination. They have
| ridieuled his speeches, and they have
| tried to create the impression that
| there is strife in his cabinet. It is
regarded as a singular coincident that
| the papers which have most CRITICS
ed the president are the same papers
that discovered that Secretary Shaw
is no longer satisfactory to the presi,
| dent as a financial adviser. 1t is as
sortod IN good authority that both