Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-27
Railroad and Bank Fraud Cases Are the Irla@rieal


investigate given corporation or not.
he can bring suit refrain from bring
ing suit. and if he does institute pro-
ceedings 1t rests with his Judgment as TO
whether they he of civil criminal ma
ture. or both. Moreover the case will be
tried before a Judge who probably owes
his appointment to the recommendation
of Attorney General and the defend
ant, If he be sent to Jail. will serve out
his time in a prison administered by the
department whose efforts resulted in his
conviction.
In recent years the activities and pow
ers of the Department OF Justice have
grown by leaps and bounds. In the six
years intervening between the time that
James & McReynolds stepped out from
the office of assistant attorney general
and the time when he returned as head of
the department these things have hap
pened:
The Sherman act received final interpre-
tation at the hands of the Supreme Court.
The act also had teeth put in it. wis
dom teeth" the department officials call
the jail sentences which. after ten years
of cndeavor. they Were finally able to Sc
cure against violators of the antitrust
law.
The commodities clause of the Hepburn
act was also construed.
Wildcat national banking methods.
which were such large factor in bring
ing on the panic of 1907. were annihilated,
and the national banking law made to
mean something.
The war against white slavery was in
stituted.
Land frauds were checked.
The customs frauds at New York and
elsewhere were greatly curtalcd. and
more than s5.O00,WN of duties fraudulent
L. evaded were collected.
The impeachment clause of the Const-
tuition was vitalized. and for the first
time in the, history of the country the
department worked up a case against a
federal judge. with the result that Con-
gress removed him from the bench
\ X
However during the four-year admin
istration of Mr. McReynolds' predecessor
the department displayed it's largest ac
tivity in the enforcement of the antitrust
law In this period 50 suits have been
filed under the Sherman act. OF these
81 have been won. l was dismissed. A
are pending and IL were lost. Without
exception all of the suits lost were Grim
inal prosecutions; and in fact II was
not till the suit against the so-called
cash register trust when the jury I'M
posed iail sentences on - out of 80 de-
PENDANTS. that big business regarded the
criminal clause of the Sherman act as
being much more than a scarecro"-
On the other hand the civil suits. insti-
tuted during this period, or SO many OF
them as have been decided. were uni
farn,Iv successful Indeed since the
Supreme Court construed the meaning or
the Sherman act in dissolving the stand
ard Oil Company it has oftentimes only
been necessary for the Department Oh
Justice to present case against trust
i'm order to obtain a consent decree. a
legal term which means that the DEFEND
ant quits without a fight.
Among the consent DEGREES entered
lon
against the Southern Wholesale Grocers
Association. the General Electric COM
pany the Aluminium Company OF Amer
lea the ready print truS, the Phiia-
delphia Jobbing Confectioners Associa.
ton. the krentlerArnold Hinge Last
Company (the .'shoemakers' last trust'D,
the Burroughs Adding Machine Company
and the American Coal Products Com
pany.
Among the more important antitrust
cases which il remains for the new At
torney General to press to a conclusion
are those against the Chicago Butter ana
Egg Board. the American Sugar Refining
Company. the three steamship pools
formed for the purpose of fixing passen-
ger and freight rates to European, South
American and Asiatic points. respective
"; the United States Steel Corporal on.
the United Shoe Machinery Company the
International Harvester Company, the
New York, New Haven and Hartford
railroad. the Delaware. Lackawanna and
Western railroad, together with the ID.
L. and W. Coal Company and the alleged
trusts accused of controlling to a greater
or less degree the following commodities:
Lumber. stone. horseshoes. coaster
brakes, thread and motion picture films
The terms of 'ssolution for the follow
ing trusts, all of which have already
been ordered TO dissolve, will be arrans-
ed by Mr.. McReynolds: The Terminal
Railroad Association of st. Louis, the
hard coal trust. the Union Pacific
Southern Pacific merger. the Great Lakes
Towing Company and the Lake Shore
and, Michigan Southern.