West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1908-10-22

and t~we test-the execution of the
antitrust laws by the federal govern.
hent Is failure; and that the exist.
ence and rourishing condition OF the
very trusts you have prosecuted con.
Nlnces the people that the trusts are
superior To law, or as Woodrow VIII
son, president OF Princeton university
said last week:
The most striking fact about the
actual organization OF modern society
In that the most conspicuous. the most
readily welded. and the most formida-
Die power is not the power or the gov.
ernment. but the power OF capital. Men
or our day I'm England and America
nave almost forgotten what IL is to
fear the government. but have found
out what IL In TO fear the power OF
capital, 10 watch Il with jealousy and
suspicion, and trace TO II the source
|f every open or hidden wrong"
L submit that the collection OF fines
from trusts aggregating a million dol
iars, III you had collected so much
winch has not been done, would be no
punishment worth the name OF nun.
ishment TO the 2S7 trusts with an ay.
gregate capitalization of S8.o12 44s'.
So1.OO. The fining process In trust
prosecution is analogous TO those fines
Imposed by police justice upon per
sons keeping Illegal resorts in towns.
These fines often operate as a sliding
scale OF license lax-so may dollars
whenever the aroused moral sense OF
the community will no longer be silent
while the lawless dive debauches tho
people. What the people wish 10 know
is This: How many trusts have you
compelled TO dissolve-in truth. and
not merely TO officially dissolve. and
then continue to fix the price A the
dissolved paper trust has donef The
meat trust paid fine and soon put I'M
the prices OF all that men must eat by
some now-you-see-i and d-now.you-don
sleight of hand that seems 10 escape
iurther prosecution while continuing TO
levy tax upon all the people. No
prosecution OF the trusts is effective
that Is not felt by the public I'm re.
heving them OF trust imposition In
what they buy. Your department says
.ne paper trust was prosecuted and
dissolved, but the publishers know that
The mills in the trust have n combino-
tion now as Injurious 10 them as before
your prosecution. You say you have
prosecuted the tobacco trust, but that
trust has put up the price OF the manu-
factured product IL sells and nut down
NJ VIII Tie price OF the raw material
buys from the farmer. You do not
claim, believe, TO have ever even I'm.
sututed proceedings against the steel
trust. and only last year. I'm the teeth
OF the law, your department acauiesced
III the complete monopoly Of that giant
or trusts when IL took over the only
large company able to compete with
IL In any line OF production.
III your department I'm seven years
has prosecuted nineteen civil and
twenty-five criminal cases, in which
no trust official has been jailed and no
trust robbing the people has been com
pelied TO take Its grasp from the throat
or free competition while 223 new
trusts have been born during the Nc
kiniey and Roosevelt Republ can adj.
ministrations, how long at this rate OF
progress will IL take the Republican
administration to stop the extortion OF
ZSI trusts that fatten by taxing the
peoplef That is the question that the
voters are propounding and II is a
question which the department of jus-
tice should answer.
/ am, sir
Yours very respectfully,
ISignedl
JOSEPHUS DANIELS.
chairman Press Bureau.