The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-05-15
WASHINGTON DAY By DAY.
Best Speeches on Rate Bill Made
Under 15.Minute Rule.
n KnOx's Victories.

s u. y l.-E IL 81 . Id y d
s.......,..
Evening Times Special Service.
Washington, d. c., May 15.-The best
speeches on the rate bill have been
made under the 15-minute rule. That
undoubtedly is why senators have
thrown so much light during the per-
iOd of limited debate.
Senator Foraker, without question,
threw a strong ray on the railroad
abuse situation when he indicated the
large number of important suits that
have been won by the government I'M
der the Elkins rebate law. He might
have gone step further and pointed
out that until Senator Knox became
attorney general practically all the
laws intended to curb combinations
of capital were dead letters. Knox
breathed the breath Of life into the
Sherman antitrust statue. The knight
or sugar trust case appeared to have
killed it. His immediate predecessors
in Office regarded that case as dispos-
ing of the antitrust laws.
And yet the Pittsburg man took it
up and won the greatest case of them
all when he persuaded the supreme
court that the Northern Securities
company was violation Of the sta
tutes enacted to prevent restraint of
traffic between the states.
Nothing stands out clearer now to
persons who have the intelligence to
vote the significance Of things than
that Knox was an active. not passive,
officer of the government Instead of
taking it for granted that the anti
combination statutes were dead letters
Knox proceeded upon the assumption
that it was his duty to show that what
congress had done was practicable
thing. He showed it in the case al
ready mentioned, in the packing house
products case, upon which proceedings
against the beef trust have been found
ed. and in the anthracite coal case,
in which the supreme court compelled
the production of books of the coal
carrying roads
under the rebate case and some under
the antitrust statute. For the pur-
pose of showing where credit is due
in the trust busting" business the
two statutes may be considered as one.
They are both aimed to prevent and
punish the evils growing out of the
misuse of great wealth. Before Knox
came into Office the Addystone pipe
case had been won, but it was such
clear violation of the antitrust law
that there was no chance of losing it.
The next great case was against the
sugar trust. In that the court decided
that inasmnch as the sugar made by
the trust had not actually passed in
to the channels of interstate COM
merce there had been no violation Of
the federal statute. The federal gov
eminent has no authority of operations
wholly within one state, SO the trust,
on an. ill-advised action, went free.
Parenthetically 1t may be observed
that the antitrust and Interstate COM
merce statutes had been invoked, and
successfully, too, against labor. organ
izatiOns. Debs went to Jail for dis
regarding them. He and his associates
are the only ones that suffer the
stigma of having suffered incarcera-
ton for violating fnjunctions based up
on them. But Notwithstanding their
imprisonment the assertion that the
pipe case is the only one won by the
government before the advent Of Knox
is substantially true.
With the advent of Knox came a new
era. He put life into the prosecu-
tions and ever since his leaving Office
his successor has been proceeding
along lines laid down by the Pennsyl-
vanian. The fact that some Of them
have not been pushed to as fine con-
illusions as that which resulted in the
trial of the Northern Securities case is
nothing against the record of the pres
ent junior senator. A reasonable ex-
PLANTATION can be thought of without
suggestion here.
And yet SO perverse are folks that
instead of Knox getting credit for what
he accomplished as to actual cases
and the laying out of lines for the
guidance of his successors he gets
very little credit for it or any part of
it. The very reverse is true. He is
called a railroad lawyer and every
thing he has done SO far in the rate
bill fight has been attributed to un-
worthy motives The junior senator
self, but even after a superficial view
getting about as rough deal as was
ever prepared for any man.
Even a CurSOTy look at ulS record
shows that he was the busiest man the
country has recently had in Office of
attorney general. He was the pioneer
in antitrust prosecutions that amount
to any thing in bringing the Northern
Securities case. He conducted the
legal side Of the purchase of the Pan
anna canal. He made the safety APP
pliance law of effect. Before he be-
came attorney general the railroads
paid no attention to the law requir-
ing them to guard the lives and limbs
Of their employers.
The peonage cases in the south,
brought by him. made q neglected
statute vital force in the south. He
drew the statutes that provide for the
expenditing of antitrust cases in the
courts and procured the extraditi0n of
Greene and Gaynor after all his as
sociates, and the British and Canadian
lawyers whom he hired. told him that
he could not make his propositions
stick.
That case Is SO remarkable that it
is a wonder that no more comment
has been made on It. Greene and Gay
nor, both rich and able to hire the
best lawyers in the English
world. appeared to be safely lodged in
Canada, free from the arm Of Ameri-
can law. Knox started after them.