The Washington herald., 1906-12-11

quarters Of an hour, the Senate adjourn
ed yesterday evening without confirming
! Attorney General Moody for Justice Of
the Supreme Court or disposing Of the
various Cabinet nominations. It was
/ generally expected that as the different
| committees to whom the nominations
were referred had decided to report them
/ favorably. there would be no hitch and
prompt work would be made Of them.
When the Senate met In executive ses-
sion, Senator Frye. from the Committee
on Commerce, reported the nomination OF
/ Mr.. Oscar Straus. 70 be Secretary of Com
merce and Labor. Senator Knox, from the
judiciary Committee. reported the nomina-
tions OF 8Ir. Moody. 10 be Justice of the
! Supreme Court, and Of Mr.. Bonaparte, TO
be Attorney General Senator Penrose
made the report from the Committee on
| Post-offces and Post-roads. on the nom
ination of Mr. Won L. Meyer, 10 be Post
master General and Senator Aldrich re-
! po--e5 from the Finance Committee the
name Of Postmaster Cortelyou, 10 be Sec
retary offthe Treasury.
| As scOn as the reports were submitted
Senator Culberson objected to the con
irmati0n Of Mr. Bonaparte TO be Attor-
ney General The ground Of his objection
was that Mr.. Bonaparte was heterodox
on the subject Of the trusts. He said Mr..
Bonaparte had attended the trust con
| ference in Chicago in 1888, and delivered
a speech there in which he gave utterance
to views that untitled him wholly to ad-
minister the great Office 10 which he had
/ been nominated by the President in a
manner satisfactory TO the country or in
harmony with the policies OF the admin
tratiOn or the work of his predecessors
/ in the Department Of Justice
An Old speech.
Among the Objectionable parts OF the
/ Chicago speech were the paragraphs from
/ it which were published in The Washing
ton Herald Sunday. and some others, as
/ follows.
There are two points at which the
formatioR of combinations affects the
( public interest injuriOusly in my opin-
ion. IS q matter Of convenience. al
/ though not Of necessity, 1t often in
wolves the aid Of the legislative power,
national. State. or municipal, and thus
/ debauches our public men.
/ I think the consolidation or com
bination OF railway companies into
/ large systems has been shown by ex-
! perience to be desirable. If concen-
tTatiOn is carried so far as to create a
practical monopoly Of the product, the
cost Of production may be further de-
creased from the facts that the COM
bination will become the only pUT-
4 chaser of the raw material and the
only employer Of the specially skilled
/ labor needed 10 produce this and can
therefore bring down the price Of the
( former and the wages of the latter
/ indefinitely. provided il stops short Of
the point where the production Of the
/ raw material ceases TO be profitable,
and where the labor is driven into other
forms Of employment
Their Information CtTUsts) fur
I nishes a theme for defamation and
consequent profit to class Of insin-
cere. unscruoulous and generally ig-
norant denagogues. infiames class
prejudces and favors the spread Of
SOcialistiC and other false and mis-
chievOus doctrines
Probably the most Objectionable utter
ance in the speech, from the standpoint OF
critics. was the following,
"Emphatically no legislative action in
/ regulation or restraint of combinations.
whether by Congress or State legisla-
/ lures, is desirable Our public men
/ with. I need not say, some honorable
sxceptiOnsl are wholly unfit 10 deal
with any such matters The attempt
win be highly demOralizing TO all con-
cerned. the practical results except in
the levy of blackmaiD altogether
nugatory."
Greeted with "A Laugh.
The Republican Senators all laughed
heartily al the conclusion Of the reading
Of the speech why. that was seven
years ago said one Senator "A man
can change his mind in that time
Yes" said another. "A better known
member OF the administration changed
| his mind between 1893 and now on sub
| ject that has filed a good many columns
/ Of the newspapers yesterday and to-day.
/ Senator Knox, in making the report on
| the nomination of Dir. Bonaparte. had
[ said that the Judiciary Committee had
acted unanimously To have Mr.. CuIber-
son, a member of the committee. attack
/ ing the nomination within two minutes
distinctly surprised not only Senator
/ Knox. but others. Mr.. Knox was vislbly
disturbed
/ He said. in reply, that If Mr.. Bonaparte
had made the speech which had been
read. he felt sure he had experienced
since its delivery a complete change OF
/ heart.
7 have had many conversations with
him about this subject said Senator
Knox. and I know he is in accord with
/ the statutes and the decisions that have
been made on the trusts Indeed. / en-
/ tertained for him, while I was Attorney
General, such high opinion Of his legal
ability and his high character that I en-
Moved him as "A special counsel Of tEee
/ Department OF Justice.
NIr CulbeTson demanded to kRow in
what cases, and pursued the PennsyI-
vania Senator with questions Gntil he had
wrung from him the admission that he
had engaged Mr.. BOnaparte to act as
/ speciaI counsel, with Judge Holmes Con-
/ rad. in the Post-Cfice Department IN
/ vestigaticn cases. Senator Culberson
said that in his opinion this hardly
served 20 increase his faith in Mr.. Bona
parte's antitrust orthodoxy He also
explained that he had not attended the
meeting Of the Judiciary Committee In
the morning when the nomination was
considered. His Democratic colleagues
had all voted for a favorable report.
Senator Rayner, of Maryland. was rec
ognized 20 speak on the issue that had
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