Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-06
INJUNCTION IS GRANTED
IN U. S. ANTITRUST SUIT
Corporation Enjoined From Destroy.
ing Papers Bearing on Case.
SAID TO INVOLVE OFFICIALS
Judge Gray OF q. S. Circuit Court
Orders Defendants to Show Cause
Why Injunction Should Not
Be Permanent. =,

Judge Gray, in the United States court
of the third circuit, has issued an in
junction restraining the defendants i'm the
governments antitrust suit against the
United States Steel Corporation from de-
stroying books and papers desired by the
government.
The injunction was issued on a petition
OF the Department of Justice, which alr
leges that several thousand papers and
documents, which were used in the gov
ernment's criminal prosecution of the
wire pool' last fall. have been de-
stroyed.
The injunction, which is a temporary
one, is to forbid the destruction of any
| other books or papers which the gov
ernment may desire in the antitrust
suit.
The destroyed papers, 1t is charged, were
in a trunk which, with its contents, were
delivered June -, 1911, by United States
District Attorney Wise to Charles Mac
veagh. general solicitor Of the United
States Steel Corporation, who gave a
written agreement 1t Is said, that he
would keep the papers in his personal
charge subject to examination by Mr..
Wise or his assistants at any time.
All Papers Destroyed.
The government. through Henry E.. COL
ton, special assistant to the Attorney
General in the dissolution suit against
the steel corporation. began negotiations
for these papers in connection with the
pending proceedings January 26 r. {.
Boiling. assistant general solicitor OF the
| steel corporation. informed Mr.. Cotton.
| it is alleged. that the trunk had been re-
turned to the American Steel and Wire
Company about October /. 1911, and that
all the papers had been destroyed by
Frank Baackes, vice president and gen.
eral sales agent for the wire company.
The papers. II is charged in the gov
ernment's petition contained matters
tending to show that J. A. Farrell, for
Products (ExporD Company. now presi-
dent Of the United States Steel Corpora.
tion, not only knew Of said unlawful pools
and combinations described, but aided
and abetted in their successful operation
Face Criminal Indictments.
One portion of the governments pc
tition seems to be susceptible of the in
| depreciation that criminal indictments
and prosecutions of certain officers of
the steel corporation and its subsidiaries
are under consideration by the Depart
ment of Justice.
wanted documents are in imminent dam
ger of destruction because there are Of
ficers of the United States Steel Corpora
tion and its subsidiaries who have not yet
been indicted for the practices which said
papers tend to show them guilty of, to
wit:
"Of having been involved of the afore-
said unlawful association, and also be-
cause none of the defendant companies
have yet been indicted in respect thereto"
Papers Tend to Show Guilt.
The petition urged that numerous other
papers were produced in the wire-pool
prosecution which contained data tend
ing to show the guilt of the American
Steel and Wire Company. the United
States Steel Corporation and the United
States Steel Products (ExporD Company.
as charged in the said petition, as well
as the fact that said Farrell formerly
president of the last-named company,
now president of the United States Steel
Corporation, not merely was cogniZant
of the unlawful pooling arrangement en-
tered into by the American Steel and
Wire Company, through its officers. but
also knowingly aided and abetted said
unlawful practices in violation Of the
Sherman antitrust act"
with occasional Interruptions, says
the petition, "the subsidiaries OF the
United States Steel Corporation from
time to time have been members Of SINH
lar pools and agreements. in respect to
the several products manufactured and
sold by them in interstate and foreign
commerce, and there must be, unless they
have been already destroyed, among the
records Of the United States Steel COrpor-
alton or its subsidiary companies, cor
respOndence, papers, reports, statements
and accounts relating to said pools and
agreements"
The rule issued by Judge Gray direct
ing the defendants to show why a per-
manent injunction should not issue is re-
turnable March ).