The Washington herald., 1914-01-16
Statesmen, Real and Near.
BY FRED 6. KELLY.


BY FRED c. KELLY.
Trust-busting operations under the
young man SO quiet and modest that he
looks as IL he would not molest even .
kitten.
George Carroll Todd Is the young trust
busters name, and he 10 about a. self
enacing. unassuming q chap as could
have been selected to 20 forth with his
legal war-stick and slay the dragon. Un-
consciously, or subconsciousiy, one falls
into the habit Of thinking Of trust
buster as mighty persons who ought to
be about the size of Ollie James with the
cocksure manner Of an insurance agent,
and voice like Klaxon horn. Todd
isn't at all like that. He is thirty-fve
years old and has short, neatly combed.
prematurely gray hair. But he has boy
ish face and a boyish modesty. Take .
bashful youth and place him in the center
OF dining-room at young ladie1 semi
nary and he would be about N much at
ease as Todd would IL called upon to talk
upon his own achievements.
Yet do not get the impression that Todd
is lacking in self-confdencc or that he Is
afraid OF trust. He will walk right up
to a trust. but experience has taught
him that when hunting trusts II Is q wise
precautiun to go arned-armed, tnat Is,
with all the necessary legal papers spd
formalities.
You see. trust-busting is a different
proposition from an old-fashioned coun-
try lawyer trying a murder case. Scar
ing wicked corporation into submission
isn't Just matter Of glaring at jury
through heavy-rimmed spectacles. shout
ing. waving ones arms like semaphores,
and mussing up ones hair. The cases
have to be argued. OF course, but the
great thing Is to know what one Is about
before one starts. And that Is where Todd
comes in. He is a good man to have
around when 1t comes to framing UP the
papers. Almost from the day he left the
law school he has been devoting himself
to exasperating trusts, and he knows Just
which way a trust will turn when driven
into a corner.
When he was a youngster, pursuing his
legal education here in Washington. Todd
prepared a thesis on THE Government
Control OF Corporations" That must
have given him an idea, although he did
not know II at the time. When he was
| cast out into the big wide world to prac-
tice law. he found himself without enough
money to open a large, sumptuous office
with a corps of blonde stenographers and
row after row OF leather-bound statutes.
So he took the civil service examination
for a place in the Department Of Justice,
intending to stay there only until he
could accumulate car fare and a small
stake.
That was in 1906 when antitrust legis-
lation was Just coming into fashion. along
with the Marcel wave. Judge W. A.
Day, now president OF the Equitable Life
Insurance Company. was then in the De-
partment OF Justice as the first Of our
trust busters, and Todd made up his mind
to apply for a Job as Days assistant.
For II occurred to him that trust-busting
was a promising young industry. and that
he might get in on the ground floor.
Being n modest bashfuI young man
Todd asked for the job with a good deal
OF tImidity.
You think you can do some trust
smashing do your asked Day, looking
him over.
Yes. could try, SIR" replied Todd.
meekIy, like a Horatio Alger hero.
A trust, II IL could have seen Todd then
would not have been afraid OF him at
all. but Day took him on and within
two or three months young Todd drew
up the briefs for one or two OF the most
important antitrust cases OF those times.
Day had him draw them up with a view
TO working them over himself. but they
were so well done that he found no oc-
casion to add so much as a comma
In that way did young Mr.. Trustbuster
Todd became an antitrust lawyer. He
went to New York couple of years
later and associated himself with James
c. McReynolds. And that is how he hap
pens TO come back to Washington now
with the title OF Assistant to the Attor-
ney General, to occupy the same room in
the Department OF Justice where he had
his desk when he obtained his first legal
job ten years ago.
He assisted McReynolds in the anthra-
cite coal case when both were In private
practice in New York. and in several
others. including the Tobacco Trust suit
He was also assistant to Mr.. Untermyer
as counsel for the committee OF Congress
that investigated the Money Trust.
|. When McReynolds became Attorney
| General, Todd was the first man he
| thought Of for the place OF chief trust
| walloper.
! And in consequence of his several
years OF association with McReynolds in
/ New York, Todd can automatically re-
/ fleet McReynolds' notions of what ought
| to be done. He knows as well how Nc
Reynolds desires to proceed at the trust
smashing jousts as McReynolds does
himself.
There's something in n name after all
For several years Senator Newlands. OF
Nevada, has made n business of buying
up land and laying 1t out into new allot-
] ments.
| Copyright, 1914 b. Fred C. Kelly. AL nghtl
| rservedJ