The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-03-26
WAS WRONG IN LAW
CONDEMNATION OF Ex-PRESi-
DENT RoosEvELT's ACTION.
Chief Executive Had No RIGHT or
Authority to Sanction the Amalga-
nation of the Two Great
Stes! Companies.

Seven m~nbers Of the judiciary COM
mittee of the senate have signed a re-
port declaring that the president acted
without authority of law when he
sanctioned the absorption of the Ten
nessee Coal and Iron Company by the
steel trust. 1t is also held by these
| senators that the merger was in viola
ton of the Sherman antitrust law.
Senator Nelson, n of the signers,
expresses the opinion that the presi-
dent may have been misled by officers
of the steel trust-a very charitable
| view, which, however, we are disposed
to think the true one. The last thing
that the president wanted was a panic.
1t would have had a bad effect on his
party's fortunes, and might have
brought with it the defeat of it's can
didate last year.
1t was also insisted that the trust
did not really want the Tennessee prop
erty, though it was willing to take it
for the sake of helping out others who
were in difficulty and of preventing a
panic. Mr. Roosevelt accepted all
these assurances in his usual impetu-
Gus way, without investigating the sit
uation. The program seemed to be
both ~philanthropic and patriotic. Ger
tainly that is the light in which it pre-
scented itself to Mr.. Roosevelt, as his
own statement Of the case makes
clear. There was a time when the
steel trustpeople did care nothing about
the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company
would not have turned ovel their
hands to possess it. They had all the
ore and coal they needed and had, with
their allies, a monopoly Of rail-making.
But a few years ago there were many
railroad accidents due to broken rails.
Naturally the officers of the roads be-
gan to demand better rails. 1t had
been supposed that there could be
nothing better than the bessemer prod
uct, which was in almost universal
use.
When the roads began to call for
o%pen-hearth rails it was found that
the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company
was equipped with an open-hearth
plant, as the steel trust was not. We
believe it to be the fact that Harri-
man had given a large order for rails
to the Tennessee company. Here then
was a chance to get an up-to-date open
hearth plant, together with millions of
dollars worth of rich ore, for the
nominal sum of $50, 600, 900, of which
only a few thousands were paid in
cash. We cannot think the trust had
any great reluctance to take over this
property-cannot think that its sole
motive for doing SO was the desire to
prevent a panic. AS a result of the
action permitted by the president the
trust is fortified in it's position and a
great competitor is wiped out. That is
something that will be greatly re-
GREETED.
Whether the deal was in violation OF
law we do not know. A majority OF
the senate's judiciary committee so de-
cides. But whether it was or not, the
president went beyond his powers. He
had no right to license an illegal &C
ton, and no power to make al illegal
act legal. But more than that, it was
not for him to say whether the action
was either legal or illegal. If it was
legal his sanction was not needed. If
it was illegal that sanction should not
have been given. When, therefore,
Gary and Frick came to him to get his
views on the question, they should
have been informed that it vas one
which the president could not even
consider, one that should not have
been brought before him. 1t is no
within the province of the president or
the attorney general to advise the pri-
vate citizen as to his legal rights. He
must act at his peril, and in the light
of such advice as his counsel may fur
nish. The government does not main
tain a legal department for any such
purpose as this. This, it seems to us.
is the great mistake hat the ex-presi
dent made. He would have been wrong
even had there been no doubt of the
lawfulness of the action that the stee.
people desired to take.-Indianapolis
News.