The Washington herald., 1913-12-21
President Wilson's college"
Commissioner Seeks Real
Facts About the ''Horned
Monster" that Is Feared
and Maligned as Popular
Menace.
BY JAMES b. MORROW.


can they be driven of the battlefield of
business by corporations separately
owned, moderately capitalized, and skill
fully managed?
No one just now can answer either
part Of the inquiry with figures. Trusts,
izers say, are illogical in that they at
tempt to repeal primal laws of trade and
human nature 1t is admitted that the
attempt so far has been successful
A huge, horned monster, making a
great noise, suddenly appeared in COM
merce and industry. Competitors fed in
terror. The little manufacturer said:
"Whc can fight $lOO, 900, ,OOO?" Consumers
stood stil in fear as they emptied their
pockets
But is the trust actually as terrible as
It looks? asks the Wilson administra-
tion. Are its horns mere hollow mock
cries which will crumble to pieces at the
outset of its first serious contest? Does
it below and paw up the earth purposely
to scare its enemies? In short, can it
make iron and steel economically? Or
leather? Or reaping machines? Or
sugar?
To Joseph Edward Davies has been
given the task Of finding and stating the
facts as he discovers them. Secretary
Redfield, of the Cabinet, has promised
that when a manufacturer reduces the
wages of his workmen, blaming the act
on the new tariff, a government officer
may call for his books and ascertain if
the excuse is honest or simply pretense-
for an indirect attack on the Democrats
Mr.. Davies will be that government Of
fetal if Secretary Redfeld's threat Is
ever carried out.
Came to Fame with Wilson.
Politically, economically, and person.
ally Mr.. Davies is as interesting and i'm
portant as any of the men grouped
around the throne in Washington. He is
a big, new personality in party matters.
Nationally, he was unknown until the
year 1911, when he became the Wisconsin
member of the Democratic campaign
committee. In 1912, he was a Wilson
preconvention manager. along with Will
lam F. McCombs, who refused the am
bassadorship to France From Chicago
during the battle of 1913, he directed the
fighting in twenty-seven Western and
mid Western States.
Wisconsin believed he deserved a
place in the Cabinet and the legislature,
Republican in both houses, unanimously
passed resolution to that effect. But
his age, he was then thirty-six years old,
and his geographical location, prevented
his appointment He could have gone,
however, to Russia as the American
Ambassador, to Rome as the American
Minister, or to the Philippines as the
American governor general President
Wilson wanted him conspicuously iden-
titled with his administration. But
foreign post detaches a man from home
activities, and Mr.. Davies declined all
offices until he was offered the Commits
sionership of Corporations.
The Wilson administration means to
check or destroy monopolistic combina-
tions doing an interstate business. 1T
is the central subject of our delibera-
tions," says the President. Whatever
is done, whether the war is lost or won,
will be ordered from the White House.
Congress will proceed as instructed by
the President and the Presidents legis-
lative policy will be based on the in
formation supplied him by Mr.. Davies.
So Mr.. Davies, hidden behind more no.
ticeable functionaries, is one of the most
potential men at the National Capital
Moreover. the President trusts him fully.
University men are now running the
government They supplanted Mr.. Taft
lawyers. Mr.. Davies, like Mr. Wilson,
is proud of his education, of his rela-
tions to the aristocracy of learning.
When asked what kind of an organiza-
about corporations, he replied: Our
special agents and special lawyers are
college men, for the most part. Many of
them carry the Phi Beta Kappa key, |
which stands for industry, conscien- |
tiousness, and scholarship. 1t is given |
by college faculties and not by frater- |
mites, and only two students in a hun |
dred, taking the country as a whole, are |
awarded il annually. |
Praises Garfield and Smith.
Politics" Mr.. Davies went on to say, |
''has been kept out of the bureau. My |
predecessors, James Rudolph Garfield |
and Herbert Knox Smith, both college |
men themselves, are entitled to great |
credit for organizing this branch OF the |
government service on the highest lines |
of efficiency and intelligence. My asso- |
ciates are young jealous, and capable; |
they belong to the new generation of |
men who, for ethical reasons, |
are turning away from the old profess
sions and taking up the business of gov
A Wall street banker or the president |
Of a monopolizing trust would be at
tracted to Mr.. Davies instantly. He is
cheerful. magnetic, and masculine.
Every one in Wisconsin likes Joe"
Davies. The student body of the State /
which he left bearing spe-
cial honors, recently, by vote, declared /
him to be the most popular graduate.
He Is young, handsome, energetic, fine 1
and optimistic He has made /
money and inherited money, and can af-
ford to indulge his propensity to poll
tics.
Until 1910 he was engaged entirely with |
the practice of law, and was prominent |
in all the courts of the State and in some |
Of the most important litigation. Nov
ing from Watertown, his old home, in 1
1906 he established himself at Madison,
where he built a house on the lake and
went into partnership with NJ. B. Oel-
rich, who made the speech at Chicago
Senator La Toilette for
President, and with John A. Aylward. |
who was the Democratic candidate for
governor seven years ago and is now
the United States district attorney for
the western part of Wisconsin.
zone Of our first Office rules was
against acceptance Of retainers from
public service corporations" Mr.. Davies
said. I'VE declined all opportunities to
appear before committees Of the legis-
sture as attorneys for railroad, gas,
electric light, and similar organizations.
We were lawyers, We said, and not lob
Dyists. Substantial fees were offered us,
put turned down. The guiding principle
of our practice was to avoid appearing
N any case that was ininlical to the
public interest. We had all the business
We could handle, and it was unnecessary
20 look for more"
Thinks Bryan Ia n Great Man.
In politics, Mr.. Davies has been, he
;ays, a Progressive Democrat-capital-
zing the ''P" in Progressive-and great