The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-11-11
WICKERSHAM'S HUMOR SLOST
SAYS RECEIVER WHITRIDGE
TO am AND OTHERS.
Thc Attorney y-Gcuerai Not Present at
Acadcmy ~ Political sciences Dim
npr- Nhitridgc thief MOurnrr-
Roosevelt MS n white House lamb.

| nPr- Nhttriugc tnief MOurncr-
Roosevelt as white House Lamb.
The relati of business and govern
ment held the floor Of the grand ballroom
at the Astor last night when the Academy
of Political Science came together for the
annual dinner ~ it's thirty-nrst year.
There were upward of 600 men and women
there to hear the Sherman law smitten
in several places. Attorney General
Wickersham was to have been one Of the
guests of honor-Judge Gary was the
other but the head of dhe Department
Of Justice didn't come and his absence
was not explained.
His vacant chair was the cause Of regret
to the principal smter. Frederick W.
Whitridge, receiver Of the Third avenue
railroad. who said that he was particu-
larly anxious TO tell the Attorney General
that he had lost his sense of humor.
He used TO be. before he began his
political career by lecturng To- the Yale
students on how TO succeed in politics,
man Of considerable humor," said
Mr. Whitridgc, but | have lately been
reading his bill against the steamship
trust and the cross between poe en-,
a political speech and bill in equity
which he has filed against the steel Cor
poration and | am bound to tell you
that he Ia lost. 4 portion Of that lat
ter document in which he tells how the
innocent lamb in the White House was
! tricked and deceived, how the miserable
sCuundres of the steel trust spent Si00,-
OOC 900 ont Of their earnings in improving
their property. of how the heads of the
various subordinate companies sat with
| Gary like Knights of the Round Table,
and undor a sense Of honor dearer than
! life itself did what IL was their plain duty
/ to do, show that NiCkersham's + last laugh
has left him"
Mr. Whitridge directed this part OF
his speech toward the table where Henry
W. Taft, George B. Cortelyou, John G.
Miburn and Lloyd q. Grscom were sit
ting The phrase that touched the inno-
: cent lamb in the White House" seemed to
bring no less hearty a response from this
table than 1t did from tn" rest of the
| room.
Mr.. Whitridge .dcv oted himself TO tha
Sherman law and to its application by
the present head Of tho Department of
Justice He began Ivy saying that the
most remark able thing about the rela-
il was necessary To- discuss them AT all.
He spoke Of the youthful exuheranCe
with which We have exercised our power
! Of making laws,
Every man with n grievance, said Mr..
! Whitridee every man with fad and
every supposed political exigency IL met
with a statute Dur annual output Of
| statutes L. about lJn times that of Great
! Britain and there L. no third in the race"
Because 80 many of the laws had fallen
4 l.. 4 -.
revolutionary when the Sherman law
| began TO be enforced III the admlnistra-
ton, of Roosevelt and Taft.
The rigorous enforcement Of that law.
| Mr. Whuridgc thought brought about
certain indirect consequences which he
! believed u was every one duty To re-
sist body ot doctrine which contained
I more economic deusious than almost
! anything he knew of was growing up
around il, The gist of that doctrine was
that there must I've competition, that
there must he no monopoly and that every
I comhins' ION which tends to rtife Compe-
ttion wG> unlawful tie asked whether
! his hearers ever heard of Il business man
who was not trying to restrain the trade
| Of hi- Competitor- II seemed plain to
! him that the trend Of all industrialism
waS toward combination.
The United States was not the only place
whore these things were being considered.
I hvt this country was swimming against
the stream.
Moreover we nre not candid with
ourselves said Mr.. Whtridge, ~Only
the other day five Southern Governors
met To see what could de done to secure
I for the Southern farmer who votes a
: better price for his cotton. That il,
! these five Governors met To see how they
could raise the price of cotton To the con-
sumer." He continued
| Through all this discussion there
runs the assumption that combinations
which tend to monopoly are dangerous
and wrong, but is that sound? I believe
the fact to be that every successful com
binaton has lowered prices and on the
| whole benefited mankind Take the
extreme case of the Standard Oil Com
pany. That concern IL controlled 10y
man who il social and psychological
curiosity, but, granting everything bad
which has been said about the Standard
Oil. the mountainous fact remains that
this man and his associates have given
10 millions and tens of millions OF human
beings heat and light who but for them
would not have had it
OF greater importance than the philoso-
ply OF the law. though, was the fact
that the Government had come down
into the arena and was "waging battle
for all sorts Of private interests in most
of which the public Is little concerned"
The inevitable consequence, as he saw il.
was that the Department of Justice had
gone into politics He had been told that
TO do the work thoroughly a general sys-
TEN Of espionage had been set up: that
employees of numerous railroads and
corporations have been seduced from
their allegiance to their employers bribed
To become traitors and to act as spies of
the Government" Mr.. Whitridge cited
an example OF Government telegraph
operator on the Continent--he himself
knew OF the case whom "A United States
Official had tried to bribe TO secure copies
; Of cables from an American trust. II
this system was an actual fact it was
abOminable, said the speaker
Then Mr. Whtridge turned his attention
to the steamship suit "Tf the second
prayer of that bill were followed" :" he said
1T would mean every steamship on the
Atlantic tied up, no imports, no letters
no exports, no passengers and half the
revenue OF the Government destroyed in
an hour" Mr. Whitridge couldn't attrib-
ute this to u mere loss Of sense OF humor,
but 70 some deep design which he couldn't I
, comprehend,
Think of those consequences," said
the speaker, "and say. If you oan. " a
conscientious desire to enforce the Sher-
man law has not lpat rDyad NOT npl,y tho