The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1912-04-19

President Taft's administration has
! broken all records for prosecutions
| brought and won under the Sherman
antitrust law. Without fear or favor
1t has brought TO the bar of justice cor
poratlons and persons engaging In ille-
! gal combinations In restraint Of trade,
the ultimate purpose Of each combina-
| ton being To create n monopoly and to
raise the prices on Its products. In
| two years and eleven months OF his
administration President Taft has
caused to be brought four more civil
suits and fifteen more criminal prose
cutions than Mr.. Roosevelt brought In
the seven and one-half years OF his nd
mlnistration.
Until Mr.. Taft became the president
the administration Of Mr. Roosevelt
held the record In both particulars.
! Thus has President Taft, who was Mr..
| ROosevclts right arm during his last
administration, kept his pledge to the
American people to uphold and main
tain the policies Of his predecessor In
! furnishing the criminals and undesira-
! BILE element in the big business Of the
country.
| In the Republican national platform
! Of 1908 reference was made TO the
! prosecution Of evil trusts and monopo-
! lies as one of the great accomplish
ments Of the Roosevelt administration,
and the platform declared that the
] Nyt. "A L., 81
! wholesome instrument for good In the
! hands OF wise and fearless executive.
In his speech OF acceptance Mr.. Taft
| pledged himself to the enforcement of
this law and has kept his promise.
Problems Confronting Taft.
! Stripped OF controversy as TO the
exact meaning OF certain language OF
the Sherman antitrust act, the ques-
| tlons that had TO be determined by
! those In administrative authority and
those who judIcially determine their
acts were, first. how effective the law
was to reach the great aggregations
OF formerly competitive producers and
! dealers, individual and corporate, who,
! through lntcrcOrpOrate stockholding
mergers. consultations and otherwise,
had acquired SO great control over
! particular line Of industry ms 10 on
! able them To dominate II and to eX-
! Clude or admit competition rs they
might choose upon their own terms.
Secondly. to determine whether that
| construction Of the law was correct
toll haI fn hNv nf
! the judges Of the circuit court In New
! York I'm the tobacco case and In the
! opinions OF some Of the Justices Of the
supreme court In other cases to the
| effect that any combination which In
my respect operated To restrain To any
degree preeXlstlng competition In
! Interstate commerce was necessarily
condemned 10y law.
In the three years Of the Taft ad-
| minstration all Of the sixteen cases
hft pending 10y the previous adminis-
iration have been disposed of except
! two. which have been argued and sub
mitted To the supreme court OF the
! United States and are now awaiting
! decision or the remaining cases the
! Standard OH case was argued early
during the present administration and.
after an appeal decided entirely III
favor Of the government The same
was also true Of the tobacco cases.
with the ultimate result Of the disin-
lgration OF that big trust into four
Gen separate and distinct corpora.
tons This. il Is believed. will effcc-
lively prevent continuance Of the
monopolistic conditions complained Of.
/ Taft Antitrust Record.
During the Taft administration MP TO
February. 1912. twenty-five civil suit
have been brought and forty criminal
indictments found under the Sherman
law. making In all sixty-two proceed
ings. As a result there were fifteen