Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-16

could be done, and If 1t can be done
in the case of the tobacco trust 1t can
be done in any other similar case.
Special Government Counsel.
Another of the foremost trust bust
ers is Frank B. Kellogg. He is special
counsel for the interstate commerce
commission and as such led the inves-
tigation of the Hartman railroad sys-
TEN. He insisted that Hartman per-
sonally 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. 1t is the govern
ment'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-
sents it. He gets $4,000 a year out
of this job. y few years ago the
Northern Securities company, which
later the government dissolved after Il
memorable litigation, needed political
influence. ]. Picrpont Morgan was
dominant in steel as in the Northern
Securities company. James j. Hill,
his great confederate In the latter
concern, one day told Mr.. Morgan
, while in New York that he wouid Ike
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.
Il am lawyer, not n politician, Mr..
| Morgan" Kellogg is said to have re-
| marked after the proposition was put
| TO him and also after some language
more SulphurOus had been uttered. Il
| am glad to do the steel corporation S
| legal work, but l won't do its politics,
| and much less will I do its friends
| politics. If it is necessary for me to
become Il political orderly for corporate
| interests in order to hold my job I'll
| resign the job
| Kellogg did not resign, nor did be
| become 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 il
| into the minor concerns which com
| posed it, and this precedent is highly
useful in the St fouis suit against
1 70 ,I,,. ynI1n 30,
| life into the Sherman antitrust law
which most lawyers supposed had Civ
en- up the ghost. He proved that law
is not dead one so long as you car
stick Il pin in it and make q violatol
! howl
Mr.. Purdy, by the way, did JUS
about the same thing to the old Elkin:
law, which seems primarily to have
been designed for the protection O
Wall streeters under the guise of {
righteous statute. Purdy resurrecte(
the Elkins law and used it In putin:
a quietus on railroad rebating, which
was almost universal.
Verify, he that breatheth the breath
Of life into a defunct statute ant
maketh it sit up and kick is of NOR
value to society than he that taketh {
city by the neck or gobbleth railroad
system.
Another important man in the trus
busting fraternity is Herbert Kno!
Smith. commissioner of the bureau o
corporations. This bureau, organized
four years ago, is one of the most eff
fective measures for the curbing O
corporate anarchy that we have
James X. Garfield. now secretary o
the interior. was the first commission
er. Mr. Smith. who halls from Hart
ford. Conn, was his assistant for
time, going to the head of the clas
when his chief was promoted to tn
cabinet.
Misc Revond He Ware