Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-10-14
ATTY. GENERAL IS DIPLOMATIC
Mixes Up tho Prosecutions Under
 Anti-Trust Law.
Records Show That 2s7 Trusts Arc Thriving Under the Republican Administration - Prosecutions Slow. Department of Jus.
 tice Answer Awaited.


 to Attorney Ge.era Bonaparte, in which he asked for information show ing the character and extent of suits instituted by the federal government against the trusts. Mir. Bonaparte made reply in very lengthy letter, but was careful not to give the lnfor- nation requested. Mir. Daniels has forwarded a second letter to the At torney General which is reproduced herewith.
 Hon. c. J. Bonaparte, United States
 Attorney General
 My Dear Sir:--I am in receipt of your letter of Oct. 2d On the 30th day of September wrote you and asked for statement showing how many of the 2S7 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-
 
 law with the prosecutions of railroads and individuals under other acts. No question was asked as to proceedings against railroads or other corpora | tions except the we'll known and rec ognized trusts that are daily. by vio- lating the law. taking from the mouth ! of labor the bread 1t has earned" The public is well aware that a number of railroads have been fined for giving rebates. That law ought to be en- 1 forced, even though your department refused to prosecute the admitted vio- lations of the law by railroad off, cial who received an immunity bath and was given 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 1t would not 1 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. 1 Having failed to furnish the specific information requested, and wishing to have statement of exactly what has I 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, giv- ing the names, doing business in the United States, have been prosecuted by the present administration? ?. How many of these trusts, nam- ing them separately, have been fined, and the separate amounts?
 3. After trust has been fined, what other steps have been taken to prevent its continuing it's illegal prac- tices for which 1t was forced to pay the penalty?
 4. How many of the officials of these 2S7 trusts have been criminalfy 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?
 l 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 1 take occasion to contrast the record of the Roosevelt administration with 1 the four preceding administrations. In i the pamphlet which you send with your letter, 1t appears that Mir. Har- rison prosecuted seven trusts under the Sherman antitrust law; MT. CIeve- | nd nj fir trto the present administration, nineteen civil and twenty-five criminal cases. You include the cases against the beef and meat trusts where the government 1 won these important suits. Has the i meat trust gone out of business, and 1 have the people obtained the relief from high prices which they had a l right to expect and for which reason ! they demanded the prosecution of that trust? An examination of the twenty five cases you say nave been prose- 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 1 by systematic robbery. enjoyed by i'm munity from Imprisonment, will ever be deterred by the methods so far en- i ployed by the department of justice ? 1 As long as the meat trust can pay a i small fine and collect 1t an hundred times over the next day. by putting up the price of what 1t 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 few of the predatory wealth. in convict garb-as the law contemplated-woul 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 ad. hinlstrations as to trusts. Carefully compiled statistics show that trusts were organized In the United States under the past four administrations as 1 follows: Under Harrison. 9: under Cleveland tsecond term 6; under Me kinley, 127; and under Roosevelt, 10G Inasmuch as there are now 2S7 trusts in America 1t appears that there vert twenty-three before MT. Harrison be came president and that 264 have been organized since 1888. If the depart ment of justice has been es diligent ai l the interests of the people demand would the number of trusts have mul tipIied 90 rapidly? Not only would the trusts doing business have beer put out of business but men would not have put money into new trush if they had believed that the law against trusts and against personi l e,,fl<w o< rcvx h,n,n0 urould he vigorous