The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1911-11-25
is 1T AN IMMUNITY suIrY


solution of the Steel Trust was filed
that the allegations of the.complaint.
with all their varied relation of ini-
guilty, set forth in graphic form to
constitute a tale of moving interest,
We're based in the main and almost
wholly upon the revelations of the
Stanley congressional committees in
quiry into the affairs Of the great cor
poration. There was, indeed, some
complaint on the part of the fnquisi-
tors that their thunder had been
stolen by the department of justice
1t may be that not only was the
thunder stolen but the thunder-bolt
as well, for the point has now been
made before the Stanley committee
that the inquiry should not be press
ed further by that body into the af-
fairs of the Steel Trust, because the.
government suit to dissolve the cor
poration and to punish it for the
many iniquities alleged should be the
only proceeding to discover and re-
veal its alleged departures from the
strict path.
When the Stanley committee re-
sumed its sessions in Washington on
Monday of this week and as it was
about to proceed to the examination
of witnesses, counsel for the steel
Corporation appeared and protested
against further prosecution of the in
QUESTION, on the ground that the res
olution authorizing the committee to
probe the trust limits it's inquiry TO
violations which have not been pros
ecuted by the executive officers Of the
government" He contended that the
committee should be restrained from
further inquiry into Steel Corporation
affairs not only by this letter of its
constitution but also by all considera-
tons OF fairness and Justice, which,
he declared, would be contravened by
the committees persistence in a path
already taken By the department OF
Justice to bring the trust to an ac-
counting under the sherman antitrust
law. The objection was so cogently
urged that the committee took 1t un-
der careful and serious consideration
and agreed to suspend judgment upon
the matter until the full membership
of the committee could be assembled,
three members being absent from the
session at which the protest was
made. 1t is said in Washington that
the objection may have the effect of
postponing the committees inquiry
Indefinitely.
The immunity baths" the courts
used to give the trusts in the earlier
days Of prosecution under the Sher-
man antitrust law are well remem-
bered-or maybe they are generally
forgot in the midst of all that has
since befallen, At any rate they
served as very effective and useful
bars against prosecution that really
might count. If the immunity doc
trine has been revived in the interest
of the Steel Trust and can be made
to prevail, it might prove most adj
yantageous at this stage of the trust
business and stay the whole course
of the government against the Steel
Trust until such time as the new hope
of the trusts, none other than the |
former trust buster, Colonel Roose- !
welt, shall have taken over the ma
tional stewardship. At any rate it |
might operate to hold the situation
open until the national election of
1912 can be passed over with all it's
possibilities Of outcome agreeable to
las 1NSAASSSs ~ OllG way VI dhJ1ACts
The suit which the government has
brought will not We may be sure,
be rushed to conclusion. 1t will
certainly drag through the courts for
several years, and if in the meantime
there is no further exposure of the
methods of the corporation and moth
ing to keep fresh in the minds of the
people the Gary dinners and the Nor
gan library conferences and the
Roosevelt before-breakfastt DEGREES,
maybe things will so better with the
trust than might otherwise befan,
Perhaps in this Interpretation of the
proceeding Mr.. Wickersham and the
administration in general may appear
in better light with the big interests
which bava hoo,, roarinor OF fbo GfeaI