Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-10-22

peen done to prevent the eXtOrtiOnS
and to end the existence Of the trusts,
1 am forced to ask you, emitting all
prosecutions against railroads and
other legal corporations, the following
questions:
l. How many Of the 2S7 trusts, CIV
ing the names, doing business in the
United States, have been prosecuted
by the present administration?
2. How many Of these trusts, nam.
ing them separately, have been fined,
and the separate amounts?
3. After a trust has been fined,
what other steps have been taken to
prevent its continuing its illegal prac-
tees for which it was forced to pay
the penalty?
4. How many Of the officials of
these 2S7 trusts have been criminally
prosecuted, and how many have been
convicted and the term Of imprison-
ment, giving the names Of each per-
son who has been imprisoned for vio-
lating the law?
In your letter in which you mix
up the prosecution of railroads and
other legal corporations with the trusts
which exist in defiance Of law, you
take occasion to contrast the record
Of the Roosevelt administration with
the four preceding administrations. In
the pamphlet which you send with
your letter, it appears that Mr.. Har-
rlson prosecuted seven trusts under
the Sherman antitrust law; Mr.. Cleve-
land, nine; Mr.. Mckinley, three, and
the present administration, nineteen
civil and twenty-five criminal cases.
You include the cases against the beef
and meat trusts where the government
won these important suits. Has the
meat trust gone out of business, and
have the people obtained the relief
from high prices which they had a
right to expect and for which reason
they demanded the prosecution of that
trust? An examination Of the twenty
five cases you say have been prose-
cuted criminally shows that in no sim
gle case has any violation of the law
been followed By Imprisonment.
Do you believe that the men who
operate the trusts to their enrichment
by systematic robbery, enjoyed by i'm
munity from imprisonment, will ever
be deferred by the methods so far en-
ployed by the department of Justice?
As long az the meat trust can pay q
ouull hAC oAu COiICCS IL Ill
times over the next day, by putting
up the price Of what It sells, when
do you think that trust will quit
charging prices that put necessary
food out Of the reach Of the poor? The
spectacle Of a few Of the predator,
wealth, in convict garb-as the law
ontemplated-would do more in one
week to break up the trust evil than
all the prosecutions inaugurated.
BY giving the comparison Of the rec
ord Of the Roosevelt administration in
the matter of prosecutions as con-
trasted with the records of Cleveland,
Mckinley and Harrison you invite a
comparison of the records of these adj
ministratiOns as to trusts. Carefully
compiled statistics show that trusts
were organized in the United States
under the past four administrations as
follows: Under Harrison, %; under
Cleveland Second termD 6; under Nc
Kinley, 1877; and under Roosevelt, 1O6
Inasmuch as there are now 2S7 trusts
in America it appears that there were
twenty-three before Mr.. Harrison be
came president and that 264 have beer
organized since 1888. If the depart
ment Of Justice has been os diligent as