The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-11-10
BIG BUSINESS INTERESTS
Correspondent OF the Republican Re
views Conditions as They Exist
in the Capital and "Down
on Wall Street.

on Wall Street"
Washington, D. c., Nov. 5.-The
antics-of the American Tobacco COM
pany are being carefully watched by
the department of justice, and there
seems no probability that the "eagle
eye" of Attorney General Wickershanl
will fail to detect any neatly conceal
ed loopholes in the arrangements OF
the officials of the tobacco trust to
eyade the mandates of the greatest
court in America. There is no con-
cealing the fact that chaos reigns in
the affairs of the Princes Of Nicotine,
and with a skill that would honor
the geratest Nagi Of Persia, the Jug
Cling game has been carried on. But
mo feasible plan has yet been brought
forward for dissolution, and it is
doubtful If the order of the supreme
court will be carried out without re-
sulting in further legal entanglem- ats
and consequent litigation. The diff
ficulty is that the American Tobacco
company is IN large measure the
result of a .'nagnincent" high ifinan-
cling, and in an adjustment iofoowner-
ship the holder of common stock and
preferred stock must be considered.
Likewise there are bondholders, and
every other conceivable kind Of own
ership-and In a ''show down such
as that OF the present instance, 1t
seems quite impossible to care for
every interest without good dea' Of
difficulty. The company is evidently
endeavoring to maintain all its old
powers, and this attempt will not be
tolerated by the government. Per.
chance there may be sequel to the
tobacco trust story, fully as import
ant to the American public and our
policies of government, as was the
original case.
American Sugar Investigation
When congress provided for an in
vestigation of the SO called sugar
trust, it delegated the task to COM
mittee, portion of whose member
ship of which was made up of class
whose chief occupation for several
years has been to foment public feel
ing, and to impress upon the public
minds the evils of the trusts" To
prove that the sugar interests were
the worst offenders, the Committee
decided to employ expert accountants
and investigators, VINO would build
case SO strong that congress would
be compelled to recognize the splen-
did service of its members to whom
had been entrusted the great task Of
busting the great trust that had come
into disrepute through criminal man
ipulations of weights. That was
gloom, however, in the ranks Of the
committeeman a few days ago, when
the country was flooded with the news
that the accountants and experts en-
ployed by the committee had reported
to the congressman that there is no
trust" Evidently the newspaper
scare-heads furnished the first news
to the congressman as to what their
employees had been about, and while
New York and Washington immedi-
ately perceived that an attempt had
been made to put ole over" on the
committee, yet as matter of fact,
it is perhaps fortunate that the Tex
pert" told their story so early in the
day, as it will likely result in the con-
gressmen giving more careful person.
al attention to affairs concerning SUI
gar, with a result that may not prove
pleasant to the men, or interests, or
whoever it may have been, that at
tempted to convey the impression to
the country that a committee of con-
gress had found" that there was "no
sugar trust" Attempts have beea
persistently made from Wall street to
show that the recent rise in sugar was
due entirely to shortage in the SUI
gar crops and foreign manipulations
of the market. The American sugar in
terests, according to several chapters
of press reports that have flooded the
country, have been entirely innocent.
They protest, and profess, as emphati-
cally as in the days when the govern
ment was engaged in sending their
officials off to Jail.
The Steel Trust
Recently the country took cogni-
zance Of the fact that j. Pierpont
Morgan was spending few days
in Washington. One report publish
ed widespread was that he liked
particular dentist in the capital, and
was getting his tooth fixed.'' An