The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-08-20

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state commerce aud such 9 concern
must not be allowed by a deStsreus
shifting Of position, as has been too
often the casein the past, TO escape
thereby ali responsibility either 70
State or to nation. The American PEG
Pile became firmly Convinced q the
need 81 control over these great az
gregations Of capital especially where
they had a tnonopollstic tendency, be-
fore they became quite clear ss TO
the proper Tay3of achieving the con;
troll. Through their Representative ID
Congress they tried two remedies,
which were to q large degree, atleast
as interpreted blythe courts contradlc'
tory. on the one hand, under the an.
tt,trust Law the effort was made to
prohibit all continuation whether It
was or was moi hurtful or beneficial
to the public. on the other hand,
through the Interstate commerce law
a beginning was made in exercising
such supervision and control over com.
nations as to prevent their doing any
thing harmful to the body polite.
The first law, the socalled Sherman
law, has filled a useful pace, for 1t
bridges over the transition period I'M
til the American people shall definite
ny make up its mind that IT viii exer.
else over the great corporations that
thoroughgoing and radical control
which 1t is certain ultimately tofnd
necessary. Theprinciple Of the,sher.
man law. SO far as it prohibits cOmbI.
nations which, whether because Of
their extent or Of their character are
harmful to the public must always be
preserved. Ultimately, and | hope
with reasonable speed, the National
government must pass laws which,
while increasing the supervisory and
regulatory power Of the government,
also permits such useful combination,
as are made with absolute openness
and as the representatives Of the gov.
eminent may previously approve. But
1T will not be possible to permit such
combinations save as the second Stage
in a course Of proceedings Of which
the first stage must be the exercise
of a far more complete control by the
National government.
Difficulties In Fighting Trusts
In dealing with those who offend
against the antitrust and interstate
commerce laws the Department Of
Justice has to encounter many and
great difficulties Often men who
have been guilty of violating these
laws have reallyacted in criminalfash.
ion, and If possible should be proceed
ed against crlmlnalIy; and therefore
tits advisable That there should be a
clause in theselaws providing forsuch
criminal action, and for punishment
by Imprisonment as well as by fine.
But, as is well known, in criminal
action the law Is strictly construed in
favor Of the defenadnt, and in on:
country, at least, both Judge and jury
are far more Inclined to consider his
rights than they are the interests
of the general public; while in addi.
ton It is always true that mans
general practices may be SO bad that
a civil action will lie when It may not
be possible to convict him of any one
criminal act. There IS unfortunately
a certain number of our fellow coun-
trymen who seem to accept the view
that unless a man can be proved guilty
of some particular crime he shall be
counted a good citizen, no matterhow
infamous the lie he has led, no mat
ter how perniOous his doctrines or
his practices. This the view announc.
ed from time 10 time. with clamorous
insistence,no group Of predatory
capitalists, now by a group OF slnis-
ter anarehfstlc leaders and agltators.
whenever a special champion Of either
clss, no matter how evil his general
life, is acquitted Of some one specific
crime. Such view is wicked whether
applied to capitalist or labor leader.
to rich man or poor man. But wehave
to take this feeling into account when
we are debating whether 1t Is posi-.
bic to get a conviction in a criminal
proceeding against some rich trust
magnate, many Of whose actions are
severely to be condemned from the
moral and social standpoint, but no
one Of whose actions seems clearly to
establish such technical guilt as will.
ensure conviction, AS a matter Of ex
pediency, in enforcing theiaw against
a great corporation, We have contlnu-
ally Ia weigh the arguments pro and