The National tribune., 1907-04-18
VIGOROUS AGGRESSlYENESS
EVERYWHERE.
From Topping Blow Against Standard
Oil to an Interstate campssign Against
Sheep-Scab. as
Heavy Blow Mt the Standard OIL.


There has been an awakefiing of late
in the Governments prosecutions OF
| the big octopuses. With Congress in
session and several Other topics holding
the attention of the country, sight has
been lost of some of the very great law
cases. A verdict by IL jurors in the
United States District Court at Chicago,
presided over by Judge Kenesaw Lands
late last week, finding the Standard Oil
Company of Indiana guilty of accepting
illegal rates from the Chicago & Alton
| Railroad, as charged in 1,462 counts,
is one of the great legal triumphs of
the Administration, and brings the anti
| trust activities into prominence once
again.
| be imposed upon the Standard Oil Com
pany in these cases. The maximum PEN
| atty under the law is $4,000 on each
| count; the minimum penalty is $1,000
on each count. If Judge Lands i'm
poses a fine under each count he can
require the payment of 29,240,O00
from the defendant company. Such a
mammoth fine would come near to put
ting the company ION the bum" at
least it would be q serious tax upon its
revenues, large as they are. But it re-
mains to be seen whether the verdict
will hold in the courts, and also wheth-
er Judge Lands will be lenient with
the rich defendant. The Department
of Justice is in the dark about what the
Court will do, but the Department Off
Gals are intensely pleased at the out
come of the litigation. There will prob
ably be some hard fighting ahead for
the Department il the case Is carried
up to the Supreme Court, as is quite
likely. Any appeal will be on law points
or on constitutionality of the Elkins
statute under which the conviction was
had
AS soon as the Supreme Court adj
journs for the Summer, the Depart
ment of Justice Will take up several
matters affecting trust prosecutions.
AS long as the Department has the
Supreme Court on its hands," the time
of the Attorney-General and of the So
licitor- General, as well as of several of
the Assistant Attorneys-General. is
much occupied with Government suits
pending there. Since the Federal Gov
eminent went into litigation by whole
sale, incident to trust and corporation
busting, the suits before the Supreme
Court have multiplied, and this has in
creased the work of the Department
greatly. There are scores of compar-
atively minor cases, such as the testing
of the Employers Liability Law, which
must be carefully prepared and ex-
haustively argued. And while the cost
of maintaining the Department of JUS
tice is several times more now than it
was five years ago, the officials thereof
are apparently earning their salaries as
much as ever.
The Big Trusts May Tremble.
Accordingly when then Department
gets the Court off its hands, and is in
the same free condition that President
Cleveland used to be when he got Con-
gress off his hands. some of the big
trusts may well tremble. Special at
torneys have worked up numerous cases
which, sooner or later, must reach the
Attorney-General and receive his YER
dict as to what shall be done-whether
there shall be prosecutions Or whether
the cases shall be regarded as closed.
Notable in this class are the investiga-
lions of the anthracite coal trust, and
also of the bituninous coal trade. The
country rang with the dniquities of the
Anthracite Trust a few months ago.
The practices of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road and the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road in allowing officials to hold stock
in coal companies and the favoritism
shown in the distribution of cars made
an unpleasant chapter in the revela
tions of modern railroading.
Gov. Hughes, of New York, was one
of the special attorneys named to work
up the evidence in those two investiga-
tions, but he went away to Europe, then
entered upon his campaign for Cover
nor of New York, and accomplished
practically nothing toward the work
for which he was appointed. c. Car
roll Todd and Alexander Simpson, Jr.,
took up the evidence, however, and
about a month ago made an exhaustive
report to the Attorney-General. Their
recommendations have not reached the
public yet, and probably will not until
Mr.. Bonaparte has had time to go over
40 in both carefully and
reach his conclusions That he will dol
after he gets the Supreme Court off his
hands.
The Campaign Against Sheep Scab.
The great variety of aggressive cam
paigns which the Government is waging
may be demonstrated by citing the ac-
tivity of the Department of Agriculture
in discriminating sheep scab. This isl
only for purposes of comparison. Sheepl
scab has depopulated fiocks in numer-
Gus States, and the Department, thru
the Bureau of Animal Industry, hasl
been egging Legislatures on to enact
effective legislation for dipping" Some
Legislatures have baked and some
have complied. Nevada and California
are examples. Nevada passed law that
pleases the Bureau of Animal Indus |
try; California passed law that was
far from satisfactory. But the Depart |
ment Of Agriculture is now cooperating |
with the State of Nevada in eXterminat- |
ing scab and 1T is making things I'M
pleasant for California. For example,
there are great forest reserves that
cross the boundary line between the |
two States. These reserves afford pas
ture for about 100000 sheep one-half |
of which come from California. But
the Department of Agriculture will not
issue any grazing permits for Calfor-
mia sheep in those reserves, unless such
sheep have been "dipt." And the anti
scab war is being waged in Washington,
Idaho, New Mexico and a number of
other localities. In New Mexico alone
the Government has little army of
100 Inspectors at work.
Aggression is the watchword in every
Department, and this is the season of
the year when plans for aggression are
budding. The Interior Department, for
instance. is organizing for. a war against
the grabbers of public lands. The vari-
Gus divisions for field work have been
new chiefs have been put
in command and given instructions to
go over the books of land offices and
who has been ma king Illegal
entries as well as to ascertain the gen.
eral conditions withea view to elm
mating fraud. Congressman from the
West grumble at this activity, but the
work is to be pushed.
Aggressiveness. Everywhere.
The Postoffice Department, too, is
doing some overhauling. Second AS
sistant PoStmaster-Genaral McC!eary