The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1903-03-05

passed, with great display of strenu
Osity and a great show Of opposition
on the part of the trusts-all the Will,
keeping their faces straight before tn,
public and looking as serious and de
termined as possible-a law giving tn
new Department of Commerce and la
Dor the power to investigate and gath
er Information about certain great cor
pOratiOns, or trusts, and to report sucl
data to the President That this Law
is meaningless and harmless. so far a!
the trusts are concerned, no one will
a thimbleful Of brains and an ounce
of political experience can doubt
There is preponderance Of evidence
against ii. both internal and external
In the first place. observe. the IFS IL
the law itself:
II the Secretary of this new depart
ment is SO inclined he may fish fol
facts in regard to trusts.
If the chief of the bureau of corpora
tiOns in this new department is moi
owned by the trusts. and if lie is ca
pable. and IL he has competent and
honest assistants. and If they fish in
the right place, they may obtain valu
able data.
If. when valuable data is obtained
the President wishes, he may secure it
| If, then, the President has time to
read 1t, and sees fit to do SO. he may
make public some Or all of this data
| or
II he thinks best, he may simply
make Recommendations to Congress
for legislation" to regulate trusts.
II. then. Congress is not controlled
| by the allied trusts and railroads, II
may, in the course Of time, pass new
legislation to curb trusts.
If, then, the Attorney General is Sc
| inclined. and il he has time, he may
apply for new legislation, to the offend.
ing trusts.
the courts may, in the years to come,
decide that the new legislation is con-
stitutional and that some particular
trust has been guilty Of illegal prac-
tices.
If. then, the trust has not already
changed its form or ceased to exist, 1t
may pay a nominal fine, and in the
| course Of eight or ten years-as did
the Standard Oil trust - slightly
| change its name and location and con-
tinue its business Of plundering the
people, as will also the hundreds of
| other trusts against which suits will
not be brought.
With such a program of "'ifs" in
front Of him. is it surprising that Mr..
John D. Rockefeller got frightened. be-
came hysterical and telegraphed all
the Senators whose names he could
remember not to pass such drastic leg
islation?
Besides this internal there is ample
external evidence to condemn this new
legislation.
1t apparently has not occurred to
our Republican trust-busting legisla-
tors that we have had four years ex-
perience with Republican institution
having all and greater powers than
the new, department will have. The
Industrial Commission was created in
June, 1893. and sat until February.
1902. 1t Investigated, or pretended to
investigate, numerous trusts, and made
nineteen volumes of reports averaging
Ecarly 1000 pages each. 1t made some
milk and water Recommendation all
of which have been ignored by the Re
publicaL, body which created it. If
this great commission, composed of
Senators, Representatives and indus
trial experts, and having full power to
inquire into all corporations-includi
railroads, which are debarred in the
new depaftment-accomplished moth
ing, after four years Of arduOus effort
and with high salaries. what may we
expect of this department. with limited
powers to investigate ami publish
facts? Nothing, surely. except that it
will satisfy our President and may
prevent effective antitrust legislation
and thus gain time for the trusts
every such years time being worth
hundreds of millions to the trusts. If
SO, it will have accomplished it's sin
lister object.
More external evidence is the fact
that all the so-called ''anti-trust'' legis-
lation that has passed this year has
passed while the Senate was deadlock
ed by the Statehood bill, with Senator
Quay in charge. One word from Quay
foI ,ic 1,;I
trusts had asked it, Senator Quay
would have said that word, for he is.
par excellence, the representative of
the trusts.-Byron W. Holt.
Weeping Patriots.
When Secretary Shaw makes
,peech, any one. even the most unso-
Dhisticated, would mark him as pa
IriOt of the Flanagan school. He exults
over the old flag and sheds tears of joy
at the prospect of an appropriation and
revels in spOils. His picture of the Fill
9inos weeping over the chances Of being
deprived Of Governor Taft and their de-
cotton to the star-spangled banner-as
long as. the donations hold Out-was
was drawn with a pencil that shows a
master hand at this style Of Oratory.
Brother Shaw should be kept upon the
stump by the administration: he may
render much greater service there than
he can possibly give in ''high finance"
Clearly a Confidence Game.
Representative Cannon. chairman of
he Appropriations Committee of the
present and predestined Speaker of
The next Congress, states with empha-
SIS that neither the Hanna nor any
such bill pensioning ex-slaves will or
ean, in his opinion, ever become a law.
However, Senator Hanna's introduc-
lion ''by request Of such n bill will
enable many a dishonest white rascal
% play upon the credulity and the
pockets of that best element of our
Afro American population-the faith