The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-06-11
THE KNOX APPOINTMENT.


! Republican party except the Republi-
can bosses of Pennsylvania and the
other applicants for the position. The
| President didn't seem to have any OBJ
! lection to losing him as a cabinet OFF,
Ger, and, according to the Washington
dispatches. frankly told him that he
| thought he would do excellent work in
the Senate. where. in his opinion, there
would ba a good deal of constructive
trust legislation during the next two
! or three years.
1t is an interesting question as to
whether or not the President gives
up Mr.. Knox willingly as a cabinet
| officer. The inference from what the
Washington dispatches contain is that
he does. And yet Mr.. Knox prosecuted
the great railroad trust, The North :
ern Securities Company, successful
| ly 1t is true that Immediately after
the decision of the Supreme Court in
that case he said in an interview that
it wasn't the purpose of the admins
tration. in its efforts to enforce the
| antitrust laws, ito run amuck." and
thus brought upon the administration
| a great deal of criticism, but he dem
onstrated that the antitrust law was
sound constitutionally and in every
other respect, and could be enforced
against almost any kind of combina-
ton that was in restraint of Interstate
trade.
Wasn't that what the President
wanted done, or did he expect Mr..
Knox to simply make an attempt to
enforce the antitrust law? OF course,
the decision in the Northern Securities
case had the effect of arraying the
trusts against the administration and
of increasing the demand upon the ad-
ministration for the enforcement of the
law against trusts. But, in view of the
fact that there hasn't been a vigorous
enforcement of the antitrust law since
the foregoing decision was rendered,
there is some ground for wondering
if, after all, Mr.. Knox understood the
President when the latter ordered suit
brought against The Northern Securi-
ties Company. The President may
have meant that he wanted a demon
stration made against trusts for politi-
cal effect, but that he didn't want the
trusts arrayed against him, since he
was to be a candidate for President.
II he didn't mean that and the course
pursued by Mr.. Knox was in every
respect satisfactory to him, it is not
easy to understand why he should be
so willing to lose him from his cabi-
net.
1t may be that Mr.. Knox is man
that cannot be used for political pur-
poses. 1t is well understood that he
is a corporation lawyer of very great
ability. There isn't much doubt that
it was his arguments that won the
Northern Securities case for the gov
eminent, and it has been said that If
the case had been in other hands the
outcome of it might have been differ
ent. II is known, also, that all of the
big trust interests of the country were
anxious to have Mr.. Knox out of the
office of Attorney General, and in the
United States Senate. AS Attorney
General he would be menace to them
all the time, while in the Senate he
would, in all probability, be a great
help to them, since it is the impress
sion that he is friendly to trusts,
The Pennsylvania bosses had no
thought of having Mr.. Knox appoint
ed to the Senate, but when such men
as Mr.. Frick, director in the steel
trust, and Don Cameron, who is sup
posed to be interested in many corpora
tions, and Mr.. Cassatt, president of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, together with
trusts magnates in other parts of the
country demanded his appointment,
the political bosses of Pennsylvania
had to abandon their little game
of politics and do the bidding
of the captains of industry, or rather
the captains of the trusts. Whether or
not this view of the appointment of
MIR. Knox is the correct one will be
shown to some extent, perhaps, by the
kind of a man the President appoints
to take MIR. Knocks place in the cabi-
not.