The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-20

Ias, has nIlea 3 useful place, for Il
bridges over the transition period until
the American people shall definitely
make up its mind that 1t VIII exercise
over the great corporations that
thoroughgoing and radical control
which it Is certain ultimately to find
necessary.
eerhe principle of the sherman law
so far as 1t prohibits combinations
which. whether because of their cx-
tent or of their character, are harmful
20 the public must always be pre-
served.
ultimately, and ] hope with reasOn-
able speed, the National Government
must pass laws which, while Increase
ing the supervisory and regulatory
power of the Government. also permits
such useful combinations as are made
with absolute and as the
Representatives of the Government may
previously approve. But 1t will not
be possible TO permit such combina-
lions ave as the second stage In n
course of proceedings of which the first
stage must be the exercise of a far
more complete control by the National
Government.
/, I'm 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 really acted In criminal fashion,
and If possible. should be proceeded
against criminally; and therefore it is
advisable that there should be a clause
in these laws providing for such
criminal action. and for punishment by
Imprisonment as well as by fine. But,
as Is well known, in a criminal action
the law is strictly construed in favor
of the defendant. and in our 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 addition it Is
practises may be so bad that a civil
action will lie when it may not be
possible to convict him of any one
crimina act.
"There Is unfortunately a certain
number of acknowledges who
seem TO accept the view that unless
a man can be proved guilty of some
particular crime he shall be counted n
good citizen, no matter how infamous
the life he hns led, no matter how per-
nici0us his doctrines or his practises.
This is the view announced from time
to time with clamorous ins~istence, now
by "A group of predatory capitalists,
now by n group OF sinister anarchistic
leaders and a~gitatOrs, whenever n
special champion of either class, no
matter how evil his general life, Is
acquitted of some one specific crime.
Such a view is wicked whether applied
to capitalist or labor leader, to rich
man or poor man.
into account when we are debating
whether II Is possible to get a con-
victlon 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 ac-
tions seem clearly to establish such
technical guilt as will ensure a con-
~viction. As u matter of expediency, in
enforcing the law against a great
corporation, we have continually to
weigh the arguments pro and con as
to whether n prosecution can success
fully be entered into, and as to
whether we can be successful in n
criminal action against the chief In
d~ividuals in the corporation, and 81
not whether we cnn at Ieast be sue
cCSSAul III a-CIFit aCAAOh thG
corporation itself. Any effective ac-
ton on the part of the Government is
always objected to, as a matter of
course, by the wrongdoers, by the
b~eneficiaries. Of the wrongdoers, and
by their champions; and often one of
the most effective ways of attacking
the action of the Government is by
objectiQg to practical action upon the
ground that 1T does not go far enough.
One of the favorite devices of those
who are really striving to prevent the
enforcement of these laws is TO clamor
for action of such Severity that ii can
not he undertaken because IL will he
certain to fail IL tried. An instance of
this is the demand often made for
criminal prosecutions where such
prosecutions would be certain to fail.
owe have found by actual expert
ence that a jury which will gladly
punish a corporation by fine, for in
stance, will ncquit the individual MEM
bersto OF that corporation If we proceed
against them criminally because of
those very things which the corpora
ton which they direct and control has
done.
in a recent case against the Licorice
Trust we indicted and tried the two
corporations and their respective presi-
dents. h contracts and other trans
actions establishing the guilt of the
so far as they We're in writing were
signed by. the two presidents. Yet
the jury convicted the two corpora
lions and acquitted the two men.
Both verdicts could not possibly have