Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-06-13
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent
Washington, June Sth, 1907.

Washington, June Sth, 1907.
The last days of the President before
leaving for his summer vacation at
Oyster Bay are being spent in arrang-
ing for the trust prosecutions that it is
confidently believed will be under
taken by the Department of Justice.
The evening of the last cabinet day in
Washington was the occasion of a
notable gathering of 'trust busters" at
the White House. There were most of
the members of the cabinet, Chairman
Knapp of the Interstate Commerce
Commission, representatives of the De-
partment of Justice, and some of the
special attorneys of the government
engaged in the corporation investiga-
tions. The object of the gathering was
to settle on the policy of the admins
tration as to prosecutions so as to leave
the President as free as possible from
discussions of this sort during the
summer.
The government has gathered mass
of information on which it may act,
but there is more in the question than
the simple one of whether or not
conviction can be secured in any parti-
cular case. There is the wider one of
policy. The country has been riding
on wave of prosperity, they have
| been immense crops and great busi-
ness expansion. The repeated revela-
tions Of corruption in financial life and
| the threat that the law would be en-
forced and number of captains of in
dustry put in jail, has stirred up the
corporations so that they are threaten
ing to 'shut off the heat' as it were,
by suspending railroad improvements,
closing down factories, and laying off
men. Just with these moves there
comes the prospect of a bad crop year.
Repeated raids in the stock market
have driven securities down to a low
point and while the shrinkage in paper
values has not effected the real values
of tangible assets, it has made money
tigher for capital is notoriously timid,
and now should there come a deter
mined raid from the White House
against the pirate captains of industry,
values would go tumbling again and
everything would be just right for the
financial panic that pessimists have SO
long said was over due.
1t is this ticklish state of affairs on
the brink of an election that is making
the administration hesitate as to
the wisest course to take. There
is no question that the government
could put number of eminent finan-
ciers in Jail if it were determined to do
So There is little question too that
such drastic action would be followed
by profound industrial depression, and
then the money world would be able
to chuckle and say, "Now see what
you've dCne." Therefore it is likely
chat the Department of Justice will be
cautioned to move very carefully in its
prosecutions and an attempt will be
made to punish the wrongdoers with
out hurting some of the other combina-
tions that have been equally illegal but
perhaps not so harmful as the chief Of
tenders.
The President has always taken a
great interest in rifle shooting, and it
is perhaps only natural that he has be-
come a life member of the National
Rifle Association. The aim of this As
sociation is to promote practice with
the service rifle among civilians who
do not want to spare the time to go in
to the National Guard. Under rules
recently issued by the War Depart
ment, any twenty men can form a rifle
club and buy service rifles and am
munition from the government and be
given the privilege of the nearest gov
ernment or national guard rifle range,
that is of course, if they have not a
range of their own. The President has
been comforting with Gen. Drain, the
president of the association, and he
hopes to get authority from the COM
ing congress to issue rifles of this sort
free of charge to any rifle clubs affiliat-
ed with the National Association. 1t is
believed in this way that the average
of Workmanship among civilians can
be greatly raised and if the time ever
comes when we are confronted with
another war, the volunteers will be
familiar with the use of the service rifle
before they are enlisted.