The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-27


Ohio who spoke at the Ohio Society din
ner Saturday night on Reform and
Speed Limit" talked the other day 10
New York Evening Post reporter about
what has been accomplished in Ohio IN
the way of enforcing the Valentine anti
trust law
There is nothing of your modern Trust
buster" about Mr.. Ellis, yet be has prob
ably driven more illegal corporations out
of business or brought them to COM
pliance with the statutes than any other
prosecuting OF States attorney in Amer
lea He is simply a believer in law en-
forcement. AS he remarked 20 the Ohio
Society, Let US avoid too much new
legislation, either State or national Let
Us first test the efficiency Of that which
we have"
The Valentine antitrust law in Ohio,
he said, differs very little from anti
trust laws elsewhere. Like most of them.
il was a long time on the statute books
before it was enforced. Fully ten years
elapsed after its passage before the first
conviction was obtained under it.
1t was in 1903 that I brought suit un-
ware Coal Exchange known in Ohio as
the coal trust I instituted criminal pros
ecutions and won my case. The Supreme
Court upheld the constitutiOnality Of the
act, and ! felt that "A real beginning had
been made.
MY next move was against the Ohio
Wholesale GrOCerS' Association This was
q combination 10 keep I'd the prices on
coffee sugar and other staples They
had an irOnclad agreement to maintain a
schedule Of prices If any one broke the
agreement he was fined. I instituted an
custer suit against the association, won
my case. had trustees appointed, and
wound W the corporations affairs.
BFOke Up the Bridge Trust.
The next victory under the law was
even more decisive, and resulted in the
overthrow of one of the most Ubiquitous
corporations that ever broke a law. This
was the combination known as the
bridge trust It was an association Of
fourteen prominent bridge building com
panies. some Of them in Ohio and some
other foreign corporations. They had
secret agreement TO submit their bids 10
each other and divide the profits. Their
State. and they had probably defrauded
the towns and counties out of three OF
four million dollars. ] brought suit
against them to take away their charter.
Meanwhile we had secured a valuable
amendment 10 the law which greatly in
creased the laws efficiency. BY this
amendment We were authorized 20 grant
immunity to any one who testified ~
trust case upon subpoena by the State
and uD0n an order Of the court. We thus
avoided the difficulty experienced by the
Federal government in the Chicago beef
trust cases.
This amendment was added by the leg
islature last winter in time for US 90 use
1t against the bridge trust Opportunity
for us, the thieves fell out We got one
of them and he supplied rs with a copy
of the trusts secret written contract It
was remarkable that combination
should knowingly set out to violate the
law as fiagrantly as they did, and then
put the whole illegal agreement down in
writing. Our possession of this document
made conviction absolutely sure We oh
tanned a judgment against all the COM
panies in the organization through quo
warTanto proceedings.
Then We called "A meeting Of all the
district attorneys and prosecuting attor-
neys in tine State and brought criminal
prosecutions against their agents simulta-
neously in the various localities where
they had been active. Many of the most
important individuals We were after fed
TO Canada and Mexico and have never
returned Many more We convicted and
fined heavily But we brought the aclivi-
ties of the bridge trust TO an end.
rs of Ia rf1
Oil suits at Findlay. A jury in the lower
court convicted them, but a higher court
reversed the verdict on error and we are
now going 10 the Supreme Court.
SaIutary Effects of Law.
Il think it can truly be said. however,
that des1ite our success in these cases II
is not in the results achieved winding UP
the affairs Of these illegal corporations
that the most good has really been ac-
compEshed The public is apt TO exagger-
ate the Importance OF such public Convic-
tions. bur the salutary effects Of the law
have been manifest in another way. Of
which, ordinarily, she public has little
knowledge. Several corporations have
been abandoned merely upon a letter Of
warning from the attorney general Then.
100 lAtlE Is no AUtSllNA llldAt IL HAS
proved a salutary preventive. Corpora
ton managers who were contemplating
business arrangements that would be in
restraint of trade on second thought gave
them up.
Now. corporations commonly complain
that such prosecutions as We have carried
on would have the effect OF checking bust
ness operations Nothing like that has
happened I'm Ohio. In fact, the records
show that more corporations were char
tered in Ohio last year than ever before.
That seems to be pretty good evidence
that men Of wealth have decided that
they can keep within the law require
ments and still make money,
Yet, with all this antitrust activity
there mas been in Ohio no attack on cap
ital or corporate wealth as such. We
don't want to drive corporations out Of
business. We want them 10 stay. We
want more of them to come. But we do
insist that they obey the law.
1T may appear In time that We need
more legislation in Ohio 10 curb Illegal
corporations. But just at present we are
fairly we'll satisfied with what we have
done and can do under the Valentine law.
At any rate, we have proved the fallacy
In the belief so commonly held that a law
grows feeble as it grows old and that it
IS new laws that are needed. First, put
strength and vitality into old ones
Profit and Loss.
From Harper's Weekly