Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-06-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
rrom our Regular CORES pom dent ;,

From our Regular CORES pondeni>
Washington. ID. G, June 16.-Once
more the Department of Justice has
stirred up trouble and this time it is |
with the Fertilizer Trust. 1t has been |
known for some time that the Depart. |
ment was on the trail of the trust and
that il probably would land enough
evidence to warrant an Indictment.
But the results so far are rather be.
yond the expectations of even the most
sanguine octopus hunters The in
formation had been laid before the u.
3. Circuit court for the middle district
of Tennessee and is against the Vir-l
ginia- Carolina Chemical Company ct
al. The other include % defendent
companies with a combined capital of
800, 600, 600. The charges are violation
of the Sherman anti trust law and for
conspiracy. Tue penalty for the vlo-
lation of the Sherman law is S. 900 and
one year in Jail while the penalty for
conspiracy is rs much as $40 600 and
two years in Jail.
No one expects that a Jail sentence
will be involved IN either case. 1t is
not the fashion to send trust magnates
to jail, and it is probable that the find.
ings, as in the Santa Fe cases, will be
that the individual officers of the CON-
panies are not gnilty but that the cor
poratiOns are the ones that have com
mitted an offense. They therefore may
be fined, but it would be rather diff
hcult to put corporation in jail. SO
beyond the moral effect that the pros
ecution may ave, there is not much
to be expected.
1t seems. according to reports, that
the combine operated In only eight
states, namely North and South Caro-
lima, Georgia, Florida. Mississippi,
Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee. In
the eight states names, it sold about
Zoo, 900 tons of fertilizer a year and
by means of the combination. it was
enabled to put up the price from So so
to Va a ton more than it should have
been.
An indication of the way the prose-
cution In this and other trust cases
works, is that the price of fertilizer has
dropped in the suffering districts from
81 to $3 ton already. This is con.
fession that the prices charged were
extortionate. 1t is the rule with gov
ernment prosecutions that the moral
effect they have is greater than the &C
tual punishment inflicted on the cor
poratiOns
The Investigation has shown up a
new and neat way for the corporations
to at least temporarily get around the
antitrust law. They have made use
of Canada as clearing house. While
the companies IN the combine were
nominally independent, they made use
of a corporation organized under the
laws of Canada for a sort of holding
company to keep matters straight be-
tween the members of the combine
and to act practica lily as the trustees
in the old trust idea first developed by
the Standard Oil Company.
1t looks as though meat legislation
were effectually blocked for the session.
There has been excitement at the
Capitol all the last of this week over
| the letter that the President sent to
Chairman WadswOrth of the Agricul.
tural Committee, critising the propos
ed House substitute for the Beveridge
Amendment to the Agricultural Appro.
priation Bill. The President came out
and said frankly that the substitute
was almost as bad as nothing at all,
that it was inferior to the Beveridge
Amendment wherever it differed from
the latter and that if he signed it at all
it would be with distinct memoranda.
um of disapproval along with the
signature.
This caused no end of a row In the
committee. The majority members
decided to stand pat On their report and
let the thing be fought out between
the House and Senate. The result of
the whole trouble probably will be that
no inspection legislation will he passed
at this session and the next Congress
will be left to deal with it. This is
only what was to be expected. The
majority of the committee that has
been considering the Beverage Amend
ment is given over body and soul to
the packing interests and these same
interests have enough staunch friends
on the floor of the House and it is said
in the speakers chair to make stub
born fight. The cry has been all along
for a sane and calm" consideration
of the matter, knowing that time is al
ways on the side of the trust. Speak
or Cannon has echoed this sentiment
whenever he has been interviewed, and
when the Speaker is against measure,
it has very little show in the House.
The Commissioner of Patents has at
last responded to the demands of in
ventOrs all over the country as express
ed in their protests through G. A. Snow
& Co.. of Washington, and has con
sented to hold summer hearings on
cases instead of taking his usual sum-
mer recess. This will give the Office a
little time tocatch up with the mass of
work that has accumulated ahead of
it, but the work is still too far in ar
rears and complete improvement can
be attained only by having the Patent
Office force work over time and defer
vacation to every man on the force
until the work is up-tO-date.