The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-05-03
fabTlsh Inc commerce COURT.

tremendous efforts were made by
Messrs. Aldrieh, Gallinger and the rest
of the reactfonaries to include in the
law a provision for a court review OF
the commissions decisions. The pro-
gressive tendency of the time was dis
tinctly against any court review, for
It was the courts which had emasculat-
ed the commission of its power under
the old law. The people generally
feared a repetition of this. They want
ed to control the railroads. They want
ed to obviate forever the possibility Of
a continuance of the processes by
which such concerns as the Standard
OIL company had used the common car
riers to collect rebates on their own
business and on that of their comped-
tors at the same time. The reaction
aries succeeded in getting a form of
court review into the law, but not as
free a one as they desired.
Trust and Commerce Court.
''Now, you will remember that W.
r. Hearst during the campaign of 1905
read from the platform in different
portions of the country letters that had
been procured by some means from the
files of the Standard Oil company. 1t
was charged that the letters were
stolen, but their authenticity was ac-
knowledged. They were genuine let
tiers, however procured. In reading
them as they appeared in the papers
was one day not much surprised to
learn that the idea of separate court
Of review for interstate commerce COM
mission decisions had emanated from
the Standard OIL company. They were
the first people to invent the idea of
commerce court. The proof of 1t was
found in letter written by Joseph Sib-
ley of Pennsylvania, member Of the
house and confessed congressional lob
byist for the Standard Oil company.
He was not the only lobbyist employ
ed by that company we may believe,
but he was one.
"In this letter, written by Mr.. Sibley,
at Washington, on Feb. %, 1905, to Mr..
John D. Archbold of the Standard Oil
company and read from the platform
by Mr.. Hearst at Memphis, Tenn, on
Sept. 10, 1908, Is found the following
paragraph relative to a certain 'Sena-
Cor b. who is described as wholly and
unalterably opposed to President
Roosevelt's policy regarding corpora
tons:
"In re power to fix railroad rates Mr.. B.
is for giving power to make rates, but will
fight the idea of a separate court l
WAS SORRY NOT TO BE ABLE TO
CHANGE HIS VIEWS ON THAT TOPIC
Lobbying In the Senate.
"Here is documentary proof that the
the idea of commerce court as long
ago as before February, 1905, and that
its lobbyists were engaged at that time.
In trying to gain support in the United
States senate for the establishment of
such court. On Oct. so, 1908, only
week before the election that was to
decide the fate of Mr.. Taft, John d.
Rockefeller takes most unusual pains
to serve public notice upon all friends
of his kind of business throughout the
country that Mr.. Taft was the man to
support for president. Now, what In
formation did Mr.. Rockefeller have
that caused him to take this very unu-
sual means to place his attitude on the
presidential election before the bust
ness world? What could it have been?
1 myself do not know, but l do know
that very shortly after his election Mr..
Taft gave notice that he had the COM
merce court idea in his mind; l do
know that before Mr.. Taft had been
long in the White House he caused
bill to be drawn providing for such
court and he used the power of his
administration to enact that bill into
law. Mr.. Rockefeller evidently wanted
q commerce court Mr.. Taft fastened
to give him one as soon as he was safe
ly elected. The plain inference must
be that the sugar trust was not the
only one of the great combinations that
found a way to get at Mr.. Taft. l can
only believe that the Standard Oil COM
pany had its friend who could slip into
Mr.. Taft's presence and get what 1t
wanted.
A working Arrangement"
But, more than that, the selection
of Mr.. Taft's cabinet and the general
attitude of the Taft administration In
the tariff session and later convinced
me that the administration had some
sort of a working arrangement with
Big Business l am certain Big
Business thought it had such a rela-
tionship. The presidents complete
change of front In regard to the tariff,
the commerce court legislation, the
speech giving a clean bill of health to
Senator Aldrich, the administrations
conduct of the Ballinger case, the WI
mona speech extolling the Payne-Al-
drich law and many other things con-
WINGED me that such an understanding
existed. The country had honored
Colonel Roosevelt for the enemies he
made, yet those enemies became Mr..
Taft's most ardent supporters from the
very first. Figure it out for yourself.
"Just to make it plain in a few
words, I may say that 1 am informed
that the dissolution of the Standard
Oil company and its reorganization by
the circuit court under terms to which
fba Standardization roiSpg no objection