The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-15
Recommends Creation of an Executive Bureau to Su-
 pervise Corporations
REVIEWS RECORD OF
 VERY ACTIVE YEAR
Powder Trust, Night Rider Case, Steel Corporation, Towing Mo. nopoly, Beef Packers and
 Other Suits Pending

Washington, December 14-Pursuins
 President Tatts recommendation that an
 executive bureau be created to supervise corporations chartered under federal
 incorporation act, Attorney General Wick ersham, in his annual report submitted
 to Congress today, suggests that the bn- reau of corporations be raised to that dig 1 nity, even in the absence of the proposed
 federal incorporation statute. l This branch of the department of com
 merce and labor. the Attorney General
 urges, should be brought into closer re-
 lation with his department and adds that
 1t might well be ''availed of as the nu-
 cleus for an administrative board under
 whose supervision consultations or mer- gers for lawful purposes might be 1 formed"
 l In enforcing the sherman antitrust l law, the Attorney General points out that
 the department of justice and the courts
 are confronted by economic rather than 1 legal, problems when it comes to work | ing out methods of disintegration after
 corporation has been declared an il- 1 legal combination. The department en-
 listed the assistance of the bureau of | corporations in the dissolution of the to-
 bacco trust, and it would be of great 1 value to the legal branch of the gov ernment, MT. Wiekersham says, if the | functions of the bureau should be so en- larged that il could be called upon offi- cially to make investigations and report 1 it's conclusions with respect to plans Tor the voluntary or enforced disintegration
 of monopolistic combinations. Record of Year l The Attorney General reviews the rec
 ord of year of intense activity in fed 1 eral prosecutions and points out that the
 department of justice financially sus-
 tained itself the result of the contri-
 button of s4.9o4.1l5 to the United States treasury in the shape of fines collected,
 customs duties reeeveries, etc. The eA- 1 pense ,f eh@ fas.s sittse4Tt, iAelAY1tE 1e o1iee of tne Attorney cene.5n Ah -ftae
 district attorneys and assistants through-4
 out the country aggregated $322s.77S2 l In a comprehensive review of the anti
 trust prosecutions. the Attorney General
 shows that the r antitrust civil suits
 pending at the beginning of the last fis-
 cal year were augmented by six addi-
 tional actions, while the Il criminal pros
 cautions under the same statute were increased by 8 more prosecutions dur | Ing the last fiscal year.
 l Eight civil suits and 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 dis continued. Four convictions were se-
 cured under the criminal clause Of the statute during the year and four cases
 were either quashed discontinued Declaring that he appreciates that pub lie interest in the sherman antitrust law was even greater" than 1t was at the
 date of his first report. the Attorney Gen
 eral set forth the following cases as being
 prosecuted or pending for final settle- ment:
 Suits Pending
 The powder trust. the night rider cases. United States Steel corporation, cotton corner alleged towing monopoly, beet packers Southern Pacific merger bitd- minous coal combination, naval stores l suit bathtub trust, lumber trust, mix | trust, wall paper combination, sugar trust trust, wall paper steamship pool, magazine
 trust, shoe machinery trust, combination of coal orads, elevator suit in Oklahomds and kindling wood trust | Emphasizing his satisfaction with the de- | cree of the New York circuit court in ] the tobacco trust dissolution the Attor- nev General has this to say of independ- | ent tobacco interests who have crltieiseu i the plan of disintegration; "Competitcts of the existing combina- | ton were eager to compel the imposition | of terms or conditions of the disintesra- tion which would have made solvent successful business readjustment lmpos- sible, would have brought about re- ceivership of the property and forced Ju- dicial sales resulting in great financial l loss not only to those interested In the continuation but to the business interests of tho country at large, and in the ehd would have benefited only the very in- dividual who had been dominant m the formation of the combination, as they are possessed of means ample enough to proi- it by the ruin which would have followed. In my opinion the plan which has been approved by the court will accomplish the objects of the law.
 Forty-six Rebate Prosecutions Forty-six prosecutions for illegal dis
 examinations and rebates were instituted against railroads during the year. The Attorney General urges the amendment or the 2s hour law governing the railrood transportation of live stock by imposing an Imprisonment peHdl'y ioi ieo 'ioiN ton
 The vigorous enforcement of the cus- toms laws. the Attorney General says, re-
 suited in the recovery of s2,l2O.ooo in du-
 ties ou, of which the government had been defrauded.
 The white slave traffic act, now year and a half old is having salutary ef- feet in the judgment of MT. WicKer- sham. The statute was diligently en- forced throughout the country. he ayers, with most satisfactory results. One hnn- dred and foity-ive prosecutions were had. resulting Tn 76 convictions, IA acauittais and 10 nole pressed or otherwise discon- tinued Forty-hve eases are pending. Sentences imposed ranged from a few months in jail to 10 years in the peniten- tary.
 While prosecutions against peonage. the Attorney Iieneral says. have done much to stamp it out. the practice sttll appears to be quite extensively carried on in some of the southern states. He suggests the strengthening of the statutes so as to afford eff cient protection of persons | against slavery and involuntary servi- tude. except as punishment for crime. i Mir WicR1rsham calls attention to the 
 CONTINUED ON PAGE 12)