The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-07
;. By THOMAS |. STOKES

WASHINGTON, March 6. = An other story of secret "inside" influi ences, of pressure brought to stay the hand of justice, and of negligence of high officials, will be unfolded when the special senate committee investigat- ing the department of justice begins to tear away the screen next week, accord ing to those who have been close to de- velopments.
 The new Pandora's box will open when officials of the federal trade com mission take the stand to give the facts regarding many cases prepared by them and turned over to the department of justice, but most of which still lie dor mant. Following presentation of evi- dence in the cases, much of which is of startling nature, witnesses directly connected with them will lay bare other facts.
 Fifty-five Cases in All
 There are 55 cases altogether. Most of them are antitrust suits, brought against large business, commercial and industrial interests whose tentacles reach out all over the country. Promi- Fnent industrial leaders will be in the list of witnesses called to testify. Some of them have political connections.
 Witnesses who will testify against the department of justice already are be- ginning to arrive in Washington and are daily closeted with Senator Wheeler of Montana. One witness connected with the United Gas improvement case in New York, one of the cases which will be probed very carefully, has been here for two weeks.
 This one case is enough to cause the impeachment of any attorney-general," !" he said Wednesday.
 Many of these cases were in the bill of particulars brought by Representa- tive Keller, of Minnesota, in his at- tempt to impeach Daugherty last year. The committee dropped hearing the evil dence when the attorney general de- clared that | the information were given out it would hinder prosecution of the cases. .r
 Case Ordered Dropped
 The witness here on the gas case asked to be heard. last year, but the hearings were stopped before he was given an opportunity. 2 Although in dictments were brought against the company for trust activities, Daugherty suddenly ordered the case dropped. It is rumored that United States senator is involved.
 This is one of numerous cases. An other series are the lumber cases, the most prominent of which was the suit brought against the Southern Pine asso- citation in February, 1921, by former Attorney General Palmer, and which is still dormant. Lumber companies throughout the south are members of the association. ,
 A prominent politician, who is said to have contributed to the republican campaign fund in 1920, heads one of the companies involved. He held, an i'm portant honorary post during the Hard ing administration. It is shown. in the report of the trade commission on the case that the companies which initiated formation of the Southern Pine asso. ciation had previously been members of the Yellow Pine Manufacturers asso. ciation, which was dissolved by the -state ef Missouri in 1913. These com. lpaniess agreed not to join a similar or. ganization. According to findings of 'the trade commission, the successor or. ganization is guilty of the same prac- tices for which the old association was dissolved.
 Highly Paid Lobby Cited
 Throughout the reports of the trade commission are similar charges and ex. tracts from communications of officers of such organizations, showing how pressure had been brought to bear here,