Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-12-14
YEAR Of ACTIVITY
n TRUST BUSTING
ANNUAL REPORT OF ATTORNEY
GENERAL SHOWS MUCH Has
BEEN Accomplished.
SIXTEEN SUITS, CRIMINAL
AND CIVIL. CONCLUDED
Answers Critics Who
Find Fault With Disposition Of To-
baeee cases-Wouid Make Bureau Of
Corporations More UsefuI-Railroad
and White Slavery Gases.

Washington, Dec. 14.-Pursuing
President Taft's recommendation that
an executive bureau be created to SUI
pervise corporations chartered under
federal incorporation act, Attorney
General Wickersham in his annual re-
gests that the bureau Of corporations
be raised to that dignity, even in the
absence of the proposed federal incor--
poration statute.
This branch of the department Of
commerce and labor, the attorney gen.
eral urges, should be brought into
closer relation with his department and
adds that 1t might well be 'availed OF
as the nucleus for an administrative
board under whose supervision console
dations or mergers for lawful purposes
might be formed
Economic Rather Than Legal.
In enforcing the Sherman antitrust
law, the attorney general points out
that the department OF justice and the
courts are confronted by economic.
rather than legal, problems when 1t
comes to working CNut methods OF dis
indignation after, g. corporation mas
been declared .asSljllegal combination.
Tie departments enlisted the assistance
of the bureau rofh1orporatoins IN the
dissolution of tho rtobacco trust, ana
it would be Of great value to the Legal
branch Of the government, Mr.. Wick
ersham says, If the functions OF the
bureau should be so enlarged that II
could be called upon officially to make
Investigations and report its conclu-
sions with respect to plans for the vol
untary or enforced disintegration OF
monopolistic combinations.
A Year Of Activity.
The attorney general reviews the
record Of a year of intense activity IN
federal prosecutions and points out that
the department of justice financially
sustained itself as the result of the
contribution of s4.2o4.115 to the United
states treasury in the shape Of fines
collected, customs duties recovered,
etc. The expense Of the department,
including the office Of the attorney
general, all Of the district attorneys and
assistants thruout the country, aggre-
gated $3.223,773.
LII d SAchSNc ASSAS" ~ 49,
antitrust prosecutions. the Attorney
general shows that the seventeen anti
trust civil suits pending at the begin-
ming OF the last fiscal year were aug
merted by six additional actions, while
the eleven criminal prosecutions under
the same statute were increased by
twenty three more prosecutions during
the last fiscal year.
Sixteen Suits Concluded.
Eight civil suits and a similar num-
Der Of criminal trials were brought TO
conclusion during the year. In four
Of the civil prosecutions judgments
| were rendered in favor OF the United
States while three were lost and one
was discontinued. Four convictions
were secured under the criminal clause
of the statute during the year and four
cases were either quashed or discon-
tinued.
Declaring that he appreciates that
public interest in the Sherman anti
trust law was 'even greater than 1t
was at the date Of his last report. the
attorney general sets forth the 1oi-
flowing cases as being prosecuted or
pending for final settlement:
THE powder trust; the night rider
cases: United States Steel Corporation:
cotton corner; alleged towing mon
opoly: beef packers: Southern Pacific
merger: bituminous coal combination:
naval stores suit: bathtub trust; lum-
Der trust; milk trust % ewalll paper COM
bination; sugar trust: Itrans- Atlantic
isteamship pool. magazine crust: shoe
Emachinefy trust; copbination OF coal
1 roads; elevator suit iDaOkiahoma. and
L;ndlinu wood trust" M
1 Answers Critics.
Emphasizing his satisfaction with the
decree Of the New York circuit court in
/ the tobacco trust dissolution. the attor-
ney generalahas this to say OF tndepen-
dent tobacco interests who have crit
lIcised the plan of disintegration:
"Competitors of the existing combin-
/ alton were eager to compel the fmpo-
sition OF terms of conditions of the dis
integration which would have made q
solvent, successful business readjust-
ment Impossible, would have brought
about a receivership Of the property
land forced judicial sales. resulting ir
lsreat FINANCIAL loss, not only to those
interested III the combination, but t.
1.-The business interests Of the. countr,
lat large; and. in the end would have
4 benefited only the very individuals who
4 had been dominant in the formation o.
the combination, as. they are possessed
Of means ample enough to profit b,
4 THE ruin which would have followed. II
sImy opinion. the plan which has beer
approved by the court will accomplish
1.-The objects OF the law"
Railroad Prosecutions.
!, Forty -six.s prosecutions for illega
discrimination and rebates were in
lstituted against railroads during tn
wear. The attorney general urges tn
= amendment of the twenty-eight hou
/ law governing the railroad transporta
!, lfion d livestock by imposing an i'm
prisonnent penalty for Its violation.
The vigorous enforcement Of tn
}, 4 customs laws, the attorney genera
says, resulted in the recovery of -,
/. 10000 in duties out of which the gov
eminent had been defrauded.
; White Slavery Hit.
:. The white slave traffic act, now
year and q half old. Is having a sal
4 utary effect, Il. the turgment Of NJ
Wickeysham. The statute was dill
gently enforced thru0ut the country, h
. ayers with most satisfactory results
q one hundred and forty-f1ve prosecu
t:s;. Vac, resulting In 70 convic
\ tons. ~ acquittals and 10 noll
pressed or otherwise discontinue.
4 Forty-Av3s dsses are pending. Sentence
/. Imposes rantsd from few months !