Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-09-20
Special Government Counsel.

4 81 AHOIuGi8 JOl lie $lOfGuluSl lIuSla fIuSl-
ers Is Frank B. Kellogg. He IS special
counsel for the Interstate commerce
commission and as such led the inyes-
| tigation@ of the Hartman railroad sys-
tenn. He insisted that Hartman per-
sona1ly should be prosecuted. Now he
is special counsel for the government
| in the biggest trust busting litigation
OF all, the suit pending at st. Louis
against Standard Oil. It is the govern
Inent's contention that this gigantic
corporation should be dissolved and
the various properties In the more
/ than seventy concerns controlled by
the Standard be redistributed to- the
original owners. Mr.. Kellogg lives In
st. Paul.
Kellogg himself is a trust attorney.
He has represented for years the steel;
trust in Minnesota. He still repre-
SCENTS it. He gets $4,000 a year out
of this job As few years ago the
Northern Securities company, which
later the government dissolved after a
memorable litigation, needed political.
influence. ] Pierpont Morgan was
dominant in steel as in the Northern
Securities company James ) HILL
his great confederate In the latter
concern, one day told Mr.. Morgan
while In New York that he would like
to have this man Kellogg do certain
political work in Minnesota In the in
terests Of the business. Kellogg hap
pened to- be in New York, and Nor
gan sent for him.
II am a lawyer not a politician, Mr..
Morgan Kellogg is said to have re-
marked after the proposition was put
to. him and also after some language
more suIphuruus had been uttered. Il
am glad to- do the steel corporal tons
legal work, but won't do its politics,
and much less VIII do its friends
politics. nc if IS necessary for me to
becomesa political orderly for corporate
interests in order to hold my job I'll
resign the job. & f53
Kellogg did not resign, nor did he
become a political orderly. Outside Of
steel he is consistent trust buster.
In the cases instituted under Attorney
General Knox against the western pa
per trust Kellogg was special counsel.
He secured an Injunction dissolving it
into the minor concerns which COM
posed ii, and this precedent is highly
useful in the st. Louis suit against
Standard Oh. KeIIogg's coup put new
life into the Sherman antitrust law,
which most lawyers supposed had Civ
en- up the CHEST. He proved that a law
stick a pin IN It and make yiolator
howl t .#854s .5
Mr. Purdy, by the way, did just
about the same thing to the old Elkins
law, which seems primarily to have
been designed for the protection Of
| Wall streeters under the guise OF q
righteous statute Purdy resurreeted
the Elkins law and used it In putting
q quietus on railroad rebating, which
| was almost universal.
Verify, he that breatheth the breath
of life into defunct statute and
maketh it sit up and kick Is Of more
value to society than he that taketh d
city by the neck or gobbleth railroad
system
i Another important man in the trust
busting fraternity Is Herbert Knox
1 Smith, commissioner Of the bureau of
corporations. This bureau, organized
four years ago, il one OF the most ef-
eective measures for the curbing Of
corporate anarchy that we have.
James q Garfield, now secretary Of
the interior, was the first commission.
Ier. Mr.. Smith, who halls from Hart.
ford, Conn, was his assistant for q
time, going to the head of the class
when his cYief was promoted to The
| cabinet.
1 Wise Beyond His Years.