Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-11-01
TO BUST STEEL TRUST
United States Government Files Suit
to Dissolve Corporation.
MATTER BEEN KEPT SECRET.
Taft Administration Starts Campaign
I Against all Concerns Operating
in Violence Of Anti.Sher-
man Law.

Against all Concerns Operating
in Violence of Anti.Sher-
man Law.
Suit was filed at Trenton, N. J.
last week, to dissolve the United
States Steel corporation and thirty
six subsidiary companies. Among
those named as defendants are ].
Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie,
John D. Rockefeller, E. H. Gary,
Charles NJ. Schwab and others prom
inent in banking and industrial cir
cles.
| . The government charges direct
connection between the steel corpor-
alton and all of the larger railroad
and steamship lines, the Standard
lOil company, the Pullman company,
the International Harvester Com
pany and the Western Union Tele-
graph company, and it is claimed
that interlocking directorates have
given the steel corporation control
over trade and commerce. The pro-
posed cancellation of leases on Great
Northern ore properties have been
declared illegal and non-effective un-
It'll January 1, 1915, and the steel
corporations, acquisition of Tennes-
see coal and iron properties are de-
Iclared illegal and national menace.
IL. H. Gary and H. c. Frick are al
Ileged to have misled President
Roosevelt when he permitted the abb
Isorption of the. Tennessee iron and
local properties In 1898.
1t is said that only four men knew
lthat suit was contemplated before
lit was announced, these being At
ltorney General Wickersham and his
private secretary, Mr.. Cole; former
Secretary of War Dickinson, special
attorney for the government, and
President Taft.
The announcement caused a stir
throughout the entire nation, and
EaES1S on the stock market. It Is
Expected that the case will be Bit
terly fought. and that the steel trust
will have defending it many of the
ablest lawyers of the country. 1t
promises to be battle royal.
The filing of the governments
suit against the United States Steel
Corporation and it's subsidiary con-
Germs was bombshell to the country
and marks the beginning of Presi-
dent Taft's avowed policy of push
ing cases this winter against all con-
Germs now operating in violation of
the Sherman antitrust law.
Special agents of the Department
of Justice have been gathering evil
dence to be used in the suit for dis
solution during the past three years
and this evidence is supplemented by
the findings of the Stanley committee
of the House of Representatives,
which has been conducting an inde-
penuent lnveStlgatlOn.
Following as it does the "defi" Of
the Steel Trust officials under the
lead of Pierpont Morgan month or
so ago when the rumor was first cir
culated, a long drawn out legal bat
tie Is expected. 1t may take from
three to five years to push the case
through the various courts until a
final decree is rendered by the Unit
ed States Supreme Court, to which
tribunal, it is the announced inten-
tion of both parties in the suit, 70
carry the case irrespective of the
decisions of the lower courts.
The most surprising information
connected with the case was the fact
that Former Secretary of War Dick
inson had prepared the brief. 1t had
been stated officially at the Depart
ment of Justice that the investiga-
tion of the steel combine was In
charge of Solicitor General Lehman.
and although 1t is fact that he
has done great share of the work
in the preparation of the case, Mr..
Lehmann's name does not appear.
The significance of the omission is
asserted in some quarters to be that
the administration plans to put the
Solicitor General on the Supreme
Court bench as successor to the
late Justice Harlan, and that under
these circumstances his name is not
drawn into the steel suit.
A farmer in Kansas has engaged
in the raising of onions and skunks.
There's a combination that ought to
crowd every other combination from
the market place.
Buying Ave thousand dollar
touring car and then putting five
dollar boy at the wheel is a FOOLS
idea Of economy.
Every dog has his day. and too
many Of them have their nights also.