The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-12-14
URGES SUPERVISION
OF CORPORATIONS
Attorney General Wickersham Supph-
ments President Taft's Recon-
mendatiOn Regarding the
Regulation.

Washington, ID. o., Dec l4.--Pursulng
President Taft's recommendation that an
executive bureau be created to super
wise corporations chartered under a fed
eral incorporation act, Attorney-General
Wickersham, in his annual report sub
mitted to Congress to-day, suggests that
the bureau of corporations he raised to
that dignity, even in the absence of the
proposed federal Incorporation statute.
This branch of the department of com
nerce and labor, the attorneys general
urges, should be brought into closer re-
lation with his department and adds
that it might well be available of as
the nucleus for an administrative board
under whose supervision consultations
or mergers for lawful purposes might be
formed"
In enforcing the Sherman antitrust
law, the encouragement points out that
the department, of justice aud the courts
are confronted by economic, rather than
legal, problems when it comes to work
ing out methods of disintegration aft
er a corporation has been declared an
Illegal combination. The department en-
listed the assistance of the bureau of
corporations in the dissolution of the
tobacco trust, and it would be of great
value to the legal branch Of the gov
eminent, Mr.. Wickersham says, il the
functions OF the bureau should be so
enlarged that it could be called upon Off
cially to Neutrality-suspicious. and report
its conclusions with respect to plans for
the voluntary or enforced disintegration
nf YopnnpoItetfo a1u,
The attorney general reviews the rec
ord of year of intense activity in
federal prosecutions and points out that
the department Of justice financially sus.
tanned itself as the result of the con-
tribution of s4,204,ll5 to the United
States treasury in the shape of fines col
lected, customs duties recoveries, etc.
The expense Of the department, inelud-
ing the office Of the attorney general,
all of the district attorneys and assist
ants throughout the country aggregated
$3,223,773.
In a comprehensive review of the anti
trust prosecutions, the attorney general
shows that the IL antitrust civil suits
pending at the beginning of the last
fiscal year were augmented by addi-
tional actions, while the IL criminal
prosecutions under the same statute
were increased by % more prosecutions
during the last fiscal year.
Eight civil suits and a similar number
Of criminal trials were brought to con-
clusion during the year. In four Of the
civil prosecutions judgments were rem
dered in favor of the United States,
while three were lost and one was dis
continued. Four convictions were Sc
cured until the criminal clause of the
statute during the year and four cases
were either quashed or discontinued
Declaring that he appreciates that
public interest in the Sherman anti
trust law was "even greater" than it
was at the date of his last report, the
attorney general set forth the following
cases as being prosecuted or pending
for final settlement
The powder trust; the might rid
or" cases; United States Steel corpora
tion; cotton corner; alleged towing
monopoly; beef packers; southern Pa
cifc merger; bituminous coal combina-
ton; naval stores suit; bathtub trust" !;
lumber trust; milk trust; wall pa
per combination; sugar trust; trans
Atlantic steamship pool, magazine
trust; shoe machinery trust; COM
bination of coal roads; elevator suit in
Oklahoma, and kindling wood trust"
Emphasizing his satisfaction with the
decree of the New York circuit court
in the tobacco trust dissolution, the at
torney general has this to say Of in
dependent tobacco interests who have
criticised the plan of disintegraton
Competitors of the existing combina-
ton were eager to compel the imposi-
ton of terms or conditions of the dis
migration which would have made a
solvent, successful business readiust-
nent impossible, would have brought
about reeeivership of the property and
forced judicial sales, resulting in great
financial loss pot only to those inter
ested in the combination, but to the
business interests of the country at
large, and in the end would have bene-
flied only the very individuals who had
been dominant in the formation of the
combination, as they are possessed of
means ample enough to profit 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 prosecutions for illegal dis
examinations and rebates were institut-
ed against railroads during the year.
Tho attorpey-oenaral urges the amend