The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-24
WALL STREET HAD BIGGEST WEEK IN
 PAST TEN YEARS The Events Have Been of EpOchal Character in a
 Business Sense TAFTS SPEECH WAS THE PRIMARY CAUSE Prices Will Go Still Lower and For eigners Will Begin to Invest
 Thus Starting Big Bull
 Movement
By w. G. NICHOLAS


 New York, September 23-(SpeeiaD D-This has been a big week in Wall street-one of he biggest in a decade, not Tn the volume of transactions or In Vloieht changes in prices, but in the importance of developments affecting the fundamen- tals of the situation. Price changes have been startling, it is true, but IL IS not there that one must look for the really important developments. Events nave been of an epoch making characted in market and business sense.
 .First off the bat" to use slang nhrase. came the speech of President Taft defining the administrations attitude to- ward the trusts and the part It would take in enforcing the mandate of the su- preme court as expressed in the decisions in the Standard oil and Tobacco trust cases. That speech startled Wall street like a plunge in ice cold water. IL iias not vet recovered from the sensation and has not altogether found us pearihssi although the atmosphere has been cieaiSu wonderfully and the fog of uncertainty which has been overhanging the eh'is' business community is slowly l1ltlng.
 
 and Harvester trust Is move of inhnite i,nportance which has as yet been oniy nartially appreciated. Every trust m the country will have to follow the lead set hv these two monster corporations and bow the neck to the yoke. AS nia'ter of fact, they will be only too glad 10 nave A chance to come in on the same terms that are likely to be granted the ot"ei and Harvester trusts. After nearly 70 years of bitter battle against the sherman antitrust law they admit defeat and c'y for oIarter They have raised the Whlte flag and are in mood to beg Tor mercy.
 ITntil President Taft spoke and told them bluntly what was in store TOT them, they had hoped against hope that some thing might happen to soften the p,oW and show them a way out whereby they could still enjoy immunity and be al- lowed to go on much as they had been doing Their chief reliance was In the thought that by some political miracle they could induce Congress to so amend the Sherman law as to allow them 10 hoid the ground they had unlawfully seized. Mr. Taft's announcement that he IS ire vocablv opposed to any change in the law and that violators thereof must comply with the decisions of the supreme court forced the abandonment of even this fiimsy hope.
 In previous dispatches it has been star- ed that representatives of many corpora tions and trusts had appealed to Attor- nev General Wickersham for a general blanket form under which they might re- organize and that he had not seen his way clear to grant the requests. Ills experience with the Standard Oil and To- bacco trusts had about convinced mn that few cases were alike and that eaen would have to be treated separately. lie was not absolutely certain that a uniform blanket plan could not be framed bur with the light he had on the situation down to date, he did not feel equal to the task or willing to promise that the ar rangement as suggested could be made. Meantime, the, department was forging ahead and working night and day prepar- ing suits against as many corporations as 1t could find that came under the prohobi- ton of the antitrust statute. He was doing his part in the carrying out of the programme as outlined by President Taft and was showing no disposition to play favorite. .I, .--e .sI aa.1iakslt
 Then came along the Steel trust and Harvester trust and insisted that there was neither rhyme nor reason in clubbing them to death when they were only too willing to do what the government might desire if they could only find out what was wanted Their attitude was that of men on their knees asking for mercy and begging not to be bludgeoned or kicked in the belly, inasmuch as they were anxious to do everything that could be demanded of them at the end of long litigation. It looked like a reasonable proposition and the departnoent has apparently granted these two trusts time enough to turn around, or at least, time enough to dis cuss the matter further and see if some plan cannot be hit upon to meet require ments. Manifestly the government can not make fish of one and fowl of others and if amnesty is granted In one case it is only natural to conclude that the hundreds of others who are in the same boat will be given the same privileges For the government to do otherwise would render it liable to a charge of favorit- ism, a position which would be found very uncomfortable, not to say untenable
 It has, therefore, come to pass that 'big business" having been brought to it's knees and humbed in spirit, may be given chance to readjust it's methods and practices without being actually blaclSjacked by the government. It is en- tirely in the power of the department of justice to accomplish it's end by trough house. methods. But if the same end can be attained by more humane means it would be far better to have 1t so. At best there is bound to De more or less disturbance and uncertainty attendant upon and incident to this readjustment-- this ripping up and tearing to pieces bus mess structures that have been a general ton in forming. and it would appear to be infinitely preferable to get through with the torture with the least possible measure of distress and inconvenience to the multitude.
 A rough estimate has been made that ( &t,,,. .lxot, xxrttl ho inhibition of the Sherman law and that they give employment to between 2,aoo,oOO and 100000 men whose wages provide means of livelihood for approXimated l2'- G0o,IJO people--to say nothing of the nun diecs of thousands of other men and women who own the properties involved and whose welfare and means of live lihood must be considered. Altogether, it is stupendous problem and the weight Of it Is felt as keemy in Washington as In Wall street and by the people at large.