Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-05-10

trusts and special interests. He point
ed out the failure of the Roosevelt
administration to prosecute the steel
trust and the harvester trust and con-
trasted that with the attitude of his
own administration which has filed
suits against both.
MORGAN INTERESTS ISTMUNE.
Although he carefully explained that
he did not wish to charge Mr.. Roose-
welt with anything improper, the presi-
dent reviewed in some detail the cir
cumstances under which the Roosevelt
administration decided not to institute
proceedings against these trusts or
against any of the Morgan interests"
The president said that George W.
Perkins, "a director of the harvester
trust and of the steel trust" was in
strumental in preventing the prosecu-
tons in the Roosevelt days and then
went on to say: ''Mr. Perkins is ono
Of the chief contributors to Mr.. Roose-
velt's present financial fund Now
want to ask you what do you think
i
had not prosecuted the steel trust and
the harvester trust, and it appeared
subsequently that Mr.. Perkins was a
large contributor to special fund ex-
pended for my use? Well, what does
| he do on the face of that? He charges
me with being in control of the spec
| ial interests, with these facts staring
/ him in the face. / don't infer from
these facts anything improper. On
the contrary, l don't believe there is
anything improper, but l do say to
him who is so prolific in his sugges-
| ton of suspicion and so easy in his
charges of improper motives that for
him now, with the evidence before The
public, to charge me with being an
agent OF the special interests takes
that audacious courage l still believe
him to have"
FROM NATURAL CAUSES.
Replying to the statement that the
DEGREES of the supreme court in the
Standard Oil and American Tobacco
company cases, were really of benefit
to those trusts and that the Taft ad-
ministration's prosecution of them had
been Intellectual because oil has gone
up and the stock of both companies
has gone up, President Taft told why
he believed these resulted from natur-
al economic causes.
They say oil has gone up, and they
say the stock of these constituent com
panies has gone up" said Mr.. Taft
at is true that they have gone up
and why? Because in the dissolution
the facts had to come out, and the
stockholders who were holding stock
down low had to reveal to the public
generally that il had a great deal
more money in those companies than
the public had known Secondly, they
say that oil has gone up. Well, II
has, and crude oil has gone up. too
and why? Because under the Stand
ard OIL company, as it was, they
could control the purchase of crude
oil, and they kept crude oil down.
know what I am talking about, be
cause had to approve contracts down
in the Indian territory with respect
to oil. The price went down, sup
pressed by the Standard Oil, SO thai
we did not know what TO do with those
Indian lands"
ABSOLUTE TRUST CONTROL.
Now, because competition has come
about and people are bidding for thai
oil. crude oil has gone up, and the
price of oil generally has gone up
But you can not get everything i
you have a trust you may have cheap
ness, but you will have absolute con
troll; but II you do not have q trust yol
will have competition, sometimes yol
will have cheapness and sometimes i
viii be high. l would rather have com