The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-22
TRUST BUSTING"
 IS VERY GENUINE
Wickersham Ridicules Idea
 That Supreme Court De- cisiOns Are Futile

Hancock. Mich, July 21.-Big combina-
 tions, like the Standard oil company and
 the Tobacco trust" are to be split up
 into a number of separate and distinct
 parts.' without connection or monopoly
 power This was the prediction made
 in an address here today by Attorney
 General Wiokersham, answering people who are saying the decisions of the su-
 preme coVrt don't really mean anything"
 Don't believe such talk" declared the Attorney General to the crowd assembled here for Hancock's "home coming cele- bration. Criticisms seeking to minimize
 the value of the supreme court decisions | came largely, he added, from those who
 would like to embarrass the administra-
 tion with the sort of general assault'
 on all business which would compel every | business man to turn to the other party
 for relief
 Incidentally. Mr. Wickersham took oc-
 caslon to trace the guiding hand of Pres
 dent Taft in the policy of the depart
 ment of justice, concluding his speech
 with the remark that mo matter who
 should be at the head of that depart |
 ident no other policy could obtain.'' MT. Wickersham then gave an account of the activities "of the peoples law offiee," the department of justice. | First of all,'' he said, there are the great trust cases in which you, in com mon with the whole country, have been so much interested. The government se- | cured great victories there. Do not let anybody deceive you as to that If the
 court had held that every contract that
 put any restraint of any kind upon com-
 merce among the states, however slight,
 was a violation of the Sherman law, the
 department of justice would have to H. lustrate the truth of what Edmund Burke said, You can't draw an indictment against a nation.' For there are not law yers enough in the government, nor for
 that matter, in the country, to draw in dictments against everybody who makes
 any contract that in any respect operates In some measure to restrain interstate | commerce.
 But when the supreme court said we | must read this statute as reasonable men and give 1t an Interpretation that will not strangle all trade, but which will | prevent any undue restraint, prohibit all | contracts and combinations that are in- tended to Interfere with the natural course of trade, or which will have that neces- sary effect, then the court gave. us a
 means of preventing those evils which lead to the enactment of the law. And this is especially so In view of the face
 that the court gave full force to the prohibition of monopoles and by Its de-
 cree has ordered the breaking up of the two largest and most successful monopo-
 lies or trusts which ever have appeared in this country.
 But some people are saying that these decisions don't really mean anything that | the big trusts will simply reorganize un- | Don't believe any such talk. Take my assurance for 1t that these big combina- | tions are going to be split up into num-
 Der of separate and distinct parts, no | one of which shall have any connection 1 or control over any other, and no ono
 of which shall be so large a percentage | of the business as to be anything like
 a monopoly. That Is what I understand | the court to require and nothing less will meet my interpretation of the de- | cision of the supreme court"
 | Mir Wickersham defended the fees paid
 to special government attorneys, declar- l ing the criticisms of them had come
 largely from persons not familiar with | big law cases.