Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-09
.M'REYNOLDS is
SILENT ON TRUSTS
His First Report Asks No
Amendment to the Sher-
man Act.
HITS OIL AND TOBACCO
DISSOLUTION METHOD
Declares He'll Oppose Plans
Where Same Stockholders
Are Given Control.

| WASHINGTON, Dec. 9.-Attorney-
! General McReynolds in his first re-
port as head of the law department of
the government, submitted to Con-
gress today, makes few recommen-
dations for legislation. The changes
he urges have more to do with the
machinery of courts than with the
fabric of the law
| On an antitrust legislative pro-
gram the encouragement was
silent He asked Congress for no
amendment to the Sherman act. the
rod his department uses to Bring
trusts to terms, and he points out no
fault in its operation.
President Wilson, however, intends
to send special message on the trust
question to Congress in the near
future, and that undoubtedly will em-
body some of the attorney generals
views.
Dissolution Plan Defective.
Attorney General McReynolds made
it clear, however, that so long as he
was head of the department he would
oppose court DEGREES in antitrust
| suits where the combination was dis
solved into parts under the control
of the same stockholders. That plan,
adopted in the Standard Oil and To-
bacco cases, he calls fundamental
! defect" and later adds, in the same
connection, my fixed purpose is to
oppose any plan of dissolution which
would leave the separate parts of the
unlawful combination under the con-
troll of the same set of men,
/ The attorney offers a novel
| solution of the problem of superan-S
nuated federal judges. Such judges,
under the constitution, hold office
during good behaviour, although they
may retire at the age of seventy after
| ten years service.
Il suggest" says the attorney
general, IAN act providing that when
any judge below the Supreme Court
| fails to avail himself of the privilege
of retiring now granted by law that
| the President be required, with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to
appoint another judge, who shall pre-
side over the affairs of the court and
have precedence over the older one.
| This will insure at all times the pres
ence of Judge sufficiently active to
discharge promptly and adequately
the duties of the court"
Specified Terms for Court Clerks.
Mr.. McReynolds suggests that
! clerks of the United States courts
should be appointed for specified
| terms and subject to removal by the
| President for cause, and asks that
provision be made for review by
| the Supreme Court of the now final
decisions of the Court of Customs APP
peal on application only by the gov
eminent. He approves the bill intro
duced by Representative Clayton
giving the Supreme Court power to
promulgate rules for trials on the law
side of federal courts. He reminds
| Congress also of the needs of changes
in his office and an increase in the
salaries paid. He terms the present
salaries moderate for the character
and amount of work to be per-
| formed"
| Coming to a review Of the events
with which his department has been
concerned for the fiscal year, the at
| torney-general shows that when he
| took office fifty-two cases were pend
| ing under the Sherman law, and that
since March eight cases have been
begun. Investigations of complaints
that the law has been violated pour
into the department by the score each
month. and come from all parts of the
country.
/
reads, "the investigation has failed
to disclose facts which would justify
the institution of formal proceedings,
but notice of the activity of the gov
eminent has impelled officers of large
| industrial corporations to curtail
dangerous tendencies.
1.-THE bureau of investigation has
| looked into thousands of cases of all
kinds. those concerning violations of
the Sherman law and the national
banking act averaging together more
| than fifty a month
War on White Slave Tramc.
| Through the bureau of investiga-
tions and a corps of local white slave
officers. the department, the attorney
general says, has vigorously carried
on the work of prosecution of Of
| tenders, and has helped suppress the
| traffic.
Out of the $475.Oo0 allotted for the
detection and prosecution of crime
$4,000 has been set aside for that
work, and the encouragement con-
cludes 'the department feels that
very material progress has been
made, particularly during the past
year, in suppressing the most vicious
features of this traffic.