The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-07
ATTY, GENERAL ASKS MOREP0WER
 IN FEDERAL OFFICE
Report Filed With Congress Shows Progress and New
 Statutory Needs.

production by amending the com modities clause of the Interstate Com merce law; authority to sue corpora tions wherever they transact busi- ness; perfection of neutrality laws and extension of the right of search warrant in criminal cases are among the recommendations of Attorney General Gregory in his annual report to Congress, made public to-day.
 The Attorney General says that despite the governments victory in the Supreme Court in the Lackawan- na Coal company case the railroads are still able to claim that the com modities clause does not prohibit them from engaging in production along their lines, provided only that they sell the articles produced before transporting them. He urges an amendment, introduced at the last session of Congress, to prohibit a rail road from transporting articles man. ufactured or produced by it or by any corporation it controls or 1t is af- fiated with by having the same con- trolling stockholders, irrespective of interest in the articles at the time of transportation. He says it is also necessary that Congress prohibit any railroad owned or controlled by a producing or trading corporations, and not merely a plant, from trans porting the articles produced or own ed.
 Employment for federal prisoners and an amendment to the criminal code to prohibit the false labelling of packages which contain arms and ammunition are among other recon mendations. The last is to meet eva sions of the embargo on arms to Mexico.
 The present administration, the At torney General says, has insisted up- on more effective dissolutions of mon- opolies and combinations in restraint of trade and at the same time ''has been so11citous to avoid prosecutions for which there is no adequate ground During the year ten of these cases have been finally deter mined and of 36 cases now pending 15, including the Reading, Lehigh Valley, Harvester, Steel, Kodak, and Shoe machinery cases, have reached the Supreme Court. Of those dis posed of, one was the case of the Ma tional Register company, whose con- viction was set aside by the Court of Appeals, annulling two counts of the indictment and construing the third so as to make successful. retrial inn possible, and the Attorney General says 'tthe criminal proceedings will not be further prosecuted"
 The report says considerable prog ress has been made in the govern ment suits against the Southern Paci- fic Railroad affecting title to oil 1a~ Vl,~ To t. T.. {: gation, MT. Gregory says aggregate over 150,000 acres said to be worth $500, 100000.
 traffic law led to 494 indictments, 334 acquittals and 400 cases still pend ing. Since the law was passed there have been 1,537 convictions, sentences ta1ing $172,060. Legislation is urged to enable wives to testify against their husbands.
 Despite countrywide investigation of reported bearches of neutrality and other criminal acts arising from the war, many of the cases were found to have violated state rather than fed era1 laws. Most of the plots involved difficulty in obtaining evidence. The Mexican situation has led to 13 in- dictments, affecting 60 persons, of whom 25 have been convicted
 Mere plotting alone,'' says the re- port, '"is not criminal. Planning or preparation in this country of a mi1i- tary expedition designed to start from a point outside this country seems not to be forbidden by law. Hence many activities which produce, constant friction cannot at present be reach ed.''