Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-23
DIFFER 0N TRUST SUIT
President and Attorney General
 Bonaparte at Odds.
CABINET OFFICIAL VICTORIOUS

lmmeclato pFobecutloH oI NsW NasVU
 Railroad For Alleged Trust Prae-
 tices Decided on at Heated Meeting. The Complaint Against the Road.
 Washington, May 23.-There was . hot time in the White House, and for more than an hour it was question whether the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company should be prosecuted under the Sherman anti trust law or whether split in the cab inet would occur. The department of justice first announced that suit against the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company had been begun by the government. In thirty minutes meeting of the cabI- net was called by the president. Then Attorney General Bonaparte from the White House called up the press agen- cies and asked them to kill" the an. nouncement of government suit against the New Haven corporation. After the cabinet meeting the press agencies were informed that the origi- nal announcement was all right and that the suit would be entered in Bos- ton forthwith.
 From all accounts, the cabinet meet ing was the liveliest in more than | year President Roosevelt, it seems, did not believe that suit against the New York and New Haven ought to be instituted, at least until there had been full consideration by the cabinet. The president had had frequent conversa- tions with President Mellen of the New Haven, had ignored Attorney General Bonaparte and had taken his law from Assistant Attorney General Purdy. It was the belief of the presi- dent and MT. Purdy that the Sherman law had not been violated by the New Haven road. The president had ex- pressed his opinion more than once to Mir Bonaparte, and the sudden action Of the department of justice incensed MT. Roosevelt causing the hurried cab inet meeting to be held.
 Bonaparte Carries Point.
 Accounts differ as to what happened in the cabinet meeting, but it is deh- nitely known that MT. Bonaparte won his point An official statement from the White House, through the usual secondary channel, explained that the president was in favor of day or two of delay, but that when the facts were presented by the attorney general he made no further objections to the insti- tuition of the suit and that the members of the cabinet agreed with him. An other story, youched for by man of integrity, is that Attorney General Bo- naparte said that President Mellen and his colleagues had deliberately vio- lated the sherman law. that they had formed a trust in steam and trolley roads in the New England states and that he would resign from the cabinet before he would withdraw the suit. There is no doubt that there is fric- ton, but 1t is declared that the admin istration will back up Bonaparte in his fight on the big railroad corporation.
 The complaint against the railroad declares:
 "The New Haven company, having prior to the year 1904 acquired practi. cally all the steam railroad facilities for the transportation of passengers and freight between southern and southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Is. land and Connecticut and between these states and New York city and the south and completely suppressed all interstate competition in transpor- tation by steam railroad in this terri. tory, did thereafter, in violation of sections 1 and of the act of July 2, 1890. an act entitled 'an act to profect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies.' knowingly. unlawfully and wrongfully combine. monopollze and attempt to moncpol1zs certain other steam railroads and cleo tric railways and did suppress and at' tempt te suppress all competition be- tween itself and such other steam railroads and electric railways in the transportation of passengers and mer- chandise and that in the prosecution of such combination. monopoly and at tempt to monopollze and in er1er to effect the same did unite and bring under one common management and control substantially all methods of transportation by land between the several states of New England and between said states and the several other states of the Union and thereby has become and is now combination in restraint of trsde or commercs among the several states in violation of said act of congress of July 2. ise0."
 The declaration Is made that the electrical companies were brought un- der the control snd domination of one subsidiary holding company, the Con soiidated Railway company.