Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-22
END OF MONOPOLY.
WickershamSees Splitting
Up of Combinations.
Traces Guiding Hand Of PTesi.
dent In Dept Of Justice.
Speech al Hancock, Mich, to An
/ Iswer Critics of Supreme Couri.H

binations like the Standard Oil com
panv and the Tobacco trusts" are go
ing to be Split up into a number of
separate and distinct parts" without
connection or monopoly power This
WAS the prediction made in an address
here today by Attorney General Wick
ersham answering People who are
saying the decisions of the Supreme
Court dent really mean anything"
Don't believe any such talk" de-
clared the Attorney General to the
crowd assembled here for Hancock s
Home coming celebration" Griti-
cisms seeking to minimize the value
of the Supreme Court decisions come
largely" he added. from these who
would like to emfarrass the admins
tration with the sort of general as
sault on all bust ness which would COM
pei every business ran to turn to the
other party for relief.
Incidentally. Mr.. Wickersham took
occasion to trace the guiding hand of
President Taft in the policy Of the de-
partment of justice, concluding his
speech with the remark that mo
matter who should be at the head of
that department so long as William II.
Taft is President no other policy could
obtain
Mr.. Wickersham then gave an ac-
count of the activities of the Peoples
Law OHiee'-the Department of JUS
tiee.
First of ALL he said there are the
great trust cases in which you. in
common with the whole country, have
been so much interested. The govern
ment scored great victories there. Do
not let anybody deceive you as to
that If the court had held that every
contract that put any restraint of any
kind upon commerce among the states.
however slight, was violation of the
Sherman law. the department of JUS
tiee would have had to illustrate the
truth of what Edmund Burke said,
You can't draw an Indictment against
nation For there are not lawyers
enough in the government nor for
that matter in the country, to draw
indictments against everybody who
makes any contract that in any re-
spect operates in some measure to re
strain interstate commerce.
But when the Supreme Court said
we must read this statute as reason
able men and give it an Interpretation
that will not strange all trade. bat
which will prevent any undue restraint,
prohibit all contracts and combinations
that are intended to interfere with the
natural course of trade. or which will
have that necessary effect--then the
court gave us a means of preventing
&c Win oh LODI 10 hn Of, .
of the law. And this is especially so
in view of the fact that the court gave
full force to the prohibition of monop-
olies. and by its DEGREES has ordered
the breaking up of the two largest and
most successful ,nonopolies or trusts
which ever have appeared in this
country
But some people are saving thai
these decisions don't really mean any.
thing; that the big trusts will simply
re-organiZze under other forms and
go on just as before, Don't believe
any such talk Take my assurance for
it that these big combinations are GO
ing to be split up into a number OF
separate and distinct parts. no one of
which shall have any connection OF
toiitipl pNti any PNiCis anu tIb blltt VI
which shall have so large a per cen
tage of the business as to be anything
like a monopoly. That is what l I'M
derstand the court to require. and
nothing less will meet my interpreta-
ton of the decision of the Supreme
Court.
well. you have put in the hands OF
your department of justice grea.
many other laws 70 enforce. and we
have been enforcing them, and we
shall go on enforcing them unless
Congress next fall should fail to give
us money enough to do so. For you
cannot work up evidence and punish
violations of law all over the United
states and keep general supervision
! of it all from Washington and meet
the opposition of the ablest lawyers
and the highest priced lawyers of the
United States and win out without
spending money. And yet, even so
we collected more money as a result
of the suits brought and prosecuted by
the department of justice during the
fiscal year ending June 80. 1910. than
II cost Uncle Sam to run the entire le-
gal establishment of the government
the Department a Washington and all
the district attorney offices in the
whole country put together; besides
all the special counsel employed to as
sist the district attorneys and the at
torney general And while the final
figures are not in for the last fiscal
year, | believe we shall make an
equally good showing for that wear
And while there has been recently
some criticism of some of the fees
paid, it has largely come from LAWYERS
who have not had any experience
with large, complicated cases, or from
political opponents and it has utterly
ignored the splendid achievements of
the lawyers who received what are re-