The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1911-11-18
DEMOCRATS OF
HOUSE DIVIDED
ON TRUST LAW
Chairman of Steel Investigation
Committee Assures Taft
of Support
Majority to Support President
in Effort to Uphold the
Present Statute
Underwood Prefers Tariff Issue
to Texans Substitute for
Sherman Act
TSpeeiaI Dispatch 10 The Call

~ASHINGTON, Nov. 1I.-Inat
IA / all the democrats will not
" lend their support TO the
=: radical "jaiI the trust mag
= mates" bill offered by Representative
FIenry Of Texas as a substitute for
the Sherman law and that a large pro-
portion of the majority members of the
house will support the president in his
effert to keep the Sherman law on the
statIte books was the encouraging in
formation brought to the White House
yesterday by Representative Stanley,
chairman of the steel investigation
committee.
7. agree with you" said Chairman
Stanley to the president, that it is
unjust and likely to work harm to
take from the statute books a law that
2 has been variously interpreted for p
years and is only now becoming plain
to the people. I agree with you that
2 the sherman law is a wise law so long
as 1t is not made abortive, as has been
the case with the dissolution Of the
tobacco trust
Vigilance of Government
Taft asked Stanley not to make up
his mind about the efficacy or lack of
efficacy in the dissolution of the to-
bacco trust until he had carefully read
Attorney General Wickersham's brief
in the case and the full decree of the
New York circuit court. which ap-
proved the plan of dissolution.
The important point was made by
4 the president that the government
would not cease to watch the tobacco
trust with jealous eye to see whether
or not the dissolution was according
to the spirit as well as the letter Of
the law in the final working out.
Taft said that the government had a
year in which TO carry the matter back
to the courts more drastic ruling
ehouId the dissolution prove to be
merely a separation in theory and not
8 in fact.
Expect Competition Restored
3 In other words. the government is
not bound by the action of the New
York court in approving the terms of
the dissolution. The president and the
q attorney general believe that the dis
solution as arranged by the attorneys
for the trust and approved by the court
will restore competition and remove
control of all the separate companies
from a central source of power. After
q a year of surveillance, however. further
action may be taken against the trust
should it prove that there had been
q dissolution in theory but not in fact.
Before he left the White House Stan
ley, whose friends say that his dis
closures on the floor of congress were
responsible for the governments suit
against the tobacco trust, as we'll as
the one against the steel corporation,
had agreed to withhold judgment on
the question of whether or not the
working Of the Sherman law had been
abortive until he had read the attor-
nev generals brief and the decree Of
the. New York court
Disagreement of Democrats
As Stanley is chairman of the COM
mittee that is Investigating the steel
Eorporation and is expected to make
recommendations to the house on the
whole subject Of trust control, his in
4erview with the president was gen
orally regarded as throwing an import
ant light on the attitude Of the demo-
Gratis toward the corporation control
problem at the approaching session.
The sharp disag greement among the
democrats over the kind of corpora
ton legislation that should be enacted
will give to oscar W. Underwood. chair
man of the ways and means committee,
the opportunity to force that whole
issue into second place and push the
tariff into the foreground.
one Of Uuderwoods friends in Wash
ington has received a letter from him
with the following significant COM
ment:
THE victory in Massachusetts will
be quite encouraging, as the fight, as
understand. was made almost entirely
on the tariff issue and shows what We
can do on that issue even in a repub-
lican state. I am thoroughly satisfied
in nv mind that the tariff is the issue
we ought to push to the front this win
ter and keep it there. If we do, be-
lieve it viii prove a winning card"
From a political standpoint 1t is to
the advantage Of the democratic lead
ers TO keep the tariff to the fore. It
is likely, therefore. that while sporadic
attempts viii be made by various dem
oerats TO repeal or change the law, the
house viii take little notice of any of
the various trust control or sherman
law repeal bills that may be offered.
Not until the presidents proposed
federal Incorporation act is brought
into the house will the tarin be side
tracked for what the democratic lead
ers regard as the secondary issue"