Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1912-12-20

Doration shall be allowed to acquire b
by the Supreme Court. II was Wick v
ersham, the attorney general, who {
sanctioned the Taft administration
railroad legislation bill, later exposed
md altered, containing a joker legal
izing the Southern Pacific-Unicn Pa
cific merger, recently held unlawful
by the Supreme Court. Itw as Wick
ersham, the attorney general whose
suit against the steel trust is che in
equity instead Of a criminal prosecu-
ton.
AT the time of the appointment Ct
Wickersham, it was said his selection |
by Mr.. Taft was in recognition Of the |
les' res of the great industrial trusts |
Of the country who had contributed !
large sums 10 Mr.. Taft's campaign
fund, and who, as return favor. &C.
sired that a safe" nan lie placed in
charge of the government prescott
ing machinery.
Before his appointment as AttOr-
ney General, Mr.. Wickershsm IVES a
trust lawyer. For years and ye2Ts
he had been receiving huge fees
from corporations for interpreting the
laws, not from the viewpoint Of the
welfare of the people, but from the
viewpoint CT tn. welfare of the
trusts. Mr.. Wickersham Yves men,
Der of the law firm of Strong and Cad
walader. Congressman Henry T.
Rainey described this firm on the
floor of the House of Representa-
tives as follows:
THE firm Of Strong and Cadwala-
der is one of the important New
York City legal firms to which great
corporations appeal for aid when they
propose to violate the laws of the
land or when they have violated the
laws of the land"
The firm of Strong & Cadwalader,
at the time of Mr.. Understands APP
pointment as attorney general, rep
resented, among other great corpora
tons, the sugar trust, and one Of the
last things Mr.. Wickersham did as
member of the firm Of Strong & Cad
walader, was to draw down his por-
, ton Of sugar trust fee of some
thing like $4,000. And one of the
= first things Mr.. Wickersham did as
Attorney General was to write, ca
+ June q. 1909. to John S. Wiss, U. S.
> District Attorney for the Southern
District Of New York, a letter reveal
. ing his strong interest in three sugar
trust officials then in danger Of the
p9ntteHti9ry. This remarkable letter
the authenticity of which has nevel
been denied by the Attorney General
: reads in part as follows:
My dear Wise:
Senator Root has sent me the
proof Of a petition signed by Bowers
Milbum and Guthrie, in support Of
their contention that the statute o.
limitations has run in favor Of Messr
Parsons, Kissel and Harmed. If the
only overt acts done to carry out ths
objects of the unlawful conspirac!
were those referred to in the brief
| should think they we're insufficient
to save the bar Of the statute. 4
strong effort will be made tomorrow
to persuade the President to inter
fere in some way to prevent the in
dictmeuts. Faithfully yours,
GEO. w. WICKERSHAM."
And now Mr.. WickerSham is usins
his office as Attorney General to saw
from arrest John D. ArchbOld, H. c
Folger, Jr, and w. C. Teagle, Off
GERS CT the Standard Oil Company.
Under the Taft administration !
mas been impossible for the govern
ment to control the trusts, becaus
the trusts controlled the government
At last it has been possible to eleC
President without the financial SUI
port of the heads of illegal trait
trusts, and it is hoped that Pres
dent Wilson will be able to find
man for attorney general who wi
be so constructed temperamentall
as to feel that millionaire sugar trus