The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1908-10-16
ATTY. GENERAL Is DIPLOMATIC
Mixes Up the Prosecutions Under
Antitrust Law.
Records Show That 2S7 Trusts Are
Thriving Under the Republican
Administration - Prosecutions
Slow -ssDepartment of JUS
tice Answer Awaited.

to Attorney General Bonaparte, In
which he asked for information show.
ing the character and extent of suits
instituted by the federal government
against the trusts. Mr.. Bonaparte
made reply in very lengthy letter.
but was careful not to give the infer-
nation requested. Mr.. Daniels has
forwarded a second letter to the At
tOrney General which is reproduced
herewith:
Hon. G. J. Bonaparte, United States
Attorney General.
MY Dear Sir:-I am in receipt OF
your letter of Oct. I'd. On the goth
day of September l wrote you and
asked for a statement showing how
many of the 287 trusts doing business
in the United States had been prose
cuted by the department of justice,
the amount of fines collected, etc. In
your answer you do not furnish the
information desired. The inquiry was
specifically directed to the action
taken with reference to the 2S7 trusts
named. Instead of furnishing that in
formation, you mix UP the prosecu-
tons under the Sherman antitrust
law with the prosecutions of railroads
and individuals under other acts. No
question was asked as to proceedings
against railroads or other corpora
lions except the well known and rec
ognized trusts that are daily, by VIC
lating the law, taking from the mouth
Of labor the bread it has earned" The
public is well aware that a number
of railroads have been fined for giving
rebates. That law ought to be en-
forced, even though your department
refused to prosecute the admitted VIC
lations Of the law by railroad Off
cial who received an immunity bath
and was given a place in the cabinet;
and those two able attorneys, Hon.
Judson Harmon and Hon. Frederick
N. Judson, who had been employed to
prosecute, refused to continue with
your department when it would not
permit them to prosecute the con-
fessedly guilty secretary Of the navy
as well as the lesser railroad officials
who had nearly all given rebates.
Having failed to furnish the specific
information requested, and wishing to
have statement of exactly what has
been done to prevent the eXtortions
and to end the existence of the trusts,
I am forced to ask you, emitting all
prosecutions against railroads and
other legal corporations, the following
questions:
1. 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 Il 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 yio-
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
nave 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
i've cases you say have been prose
cuted criminally shows that in no sin
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 as the meat trust can pay a
small fine and collect it an hundred
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
rood out Of the reach of the Door? The
spectacle of a few of the p1edatora
wealth, in convict garb-as the law
contemplated-woul do more in ono
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
comparison of the records of these ad-
ministrations as to trusts. Carefully
compiled statistics show that trnsts
were organized in the United States
under the past four administrations as
follows: Under Harrison, %; under
cleveland Second term 6; under Nc
kinney, 121; and under Roosevelt, LOG.
lnasmuch 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 heer
organized since 1883. If the depart
ment of justice has been os diligent as
The interests of the people demand,
would the number of trusts have null
uplied SO rapidly? Not only would
the trusts doing business have been
put out OF business, but men would
not have put money into new trusts
II they had believed that the law
against trusts and against persons
guilty of combining would be vigorous
Iy enforced.
| submit that by the test of punish
ing lawbreakers and lettering Others
from violating the law-the eternal
and true teSt-the execution of the