The Washington times., 1922-12-03

greatest court in the world may well
give us pause.
It cannot but be the subject Of
grave concern to- the men Of the
profession who are solicitous to see
an Improvement in the Department
of Justice. Let us hope against
hope. and against the record that
this man has made in office, that
our worst fears will not be realized
in the character Of appointments.
A fair illustration of the indeli-
cacy, to say the least, with which
that great office is now administer
ed is found in the selection by the
Attorney General of the Judge before
whom the railroad irjunction" case
was argued. He had the choice Of
any tribunal in the country, yet he
deliberately selected q Judge whose
appointment was under considera-
ton by him at the time the papers
were prepared, and at the time the
ink was barely dry upon his (the
iudge'S certificate of appointment
by the President (at the instance Of
the Attorney General. And this
judge was called upon to sit in
Judgment in this case.
SUMMARIZES INDICTMENT.
Untermyer then proceeded to sum.
marize what he described as my
indictment against the Attorney
General, placing his offenses Of mall
fea asance and non-fea sance somewhat
In the following order:"
I. He has made q virtual dead
letter of the antitrust law at q
time when 1t Is more than ever
necessary for 1t to be enforced.
With a high protective tariff, that
effectively excluded foreign COM
petition, 1t becomes more than
ever necessary that the channels Of
competition at homo be kept free.
So long as we had the possibility
of foreign competition to check
home combinations there was at
least a ray Of hope. But when the
source Of competition has been cut
off we are at the mercy Of innum-
cradle home combinations that in
fest almost every branch of indus
try. Nothing has been done to
check or suppress them.
There are seventy-one cases In
which prosecution have been re-
commended by the Federal Trade
Commission after thorough inves-
tigation, and in which no action
has been taken by the Department
of Justice until many of the Of
fenses have been barred from prose-
cution by the statute of imita-
tions. The same Is true of twenty
or more combinations in the build
ing industry alone, in which proof
was submitted by the Lockwood
committee, and the Department Of
Justice has allowed these cases to
be barred from prosecution by the
statute Of limitations, or to die
from inanition.
HITS WAR FRAUD CASES.
(2). The war fraud cases." Of
which we have heard 80 much by
way Of propaganda from the Attor-
ney General, have ended in a COM
plete fizzle. Between political pres
sure by influential offenders upon
one side and incapacity to deal with
the subject on the part Of the gov
ernment. these most despicable Of
all criminals who have taken advan-
tage Of our war needs to swindle
the government are in a fair way
to go free Of punishment.
(3). One of the first acts Of the
Attorney General was to appoint to
the head Of the important Bureau
of Investigation, or detective service
Of the Department Of Justice, where
he still remains, q man who had
been denounced by q previous At
torney General in an official opinion
to President Taft as having de-
bauched and corrupted the Jury box
by stuffing II with men who were
known to be in favor Of convicting
defendants then about to be placed
on trial. The men thus convicted
were pardoned by the President on
the evidence thus submitted. This
unspeakably unfit appointment was
made after the facts Of the Official
documents proving the charge had
been brought to the attention of the
Attorney General by number Of dis.
tinguished men and against their
protest.
~ In every case in which
corporation charged with viola.
ton Of the antitrust law has
been under the protecting wing
Of ]. p. Morgan q Co.. II has
been impossible to secure it,
prosecution.
(O In the case Of the General
|. Electric Co.. Of which Messrs.
Morgan are the bankers and at
least one Of them . director. the
Lockwood Committee presented
formal charges, accompanied by
overwhelming proof, at least one
year ago. with q demand for
prosecution.
b) In the case Of the United
Gas Improvement Company,
where the Attorney General was
finally forced to prosecute and
an Indictment was returned, he