OCR Text |
Show IREPHHT SILENT ON ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION Attorney General M'Reynolds Finds No Fault With the Operation of the Sherman Sher-man Law. NOVEL SOLUTION AS TO FEDERAL JUDGES Would Give Younger Men Precedence When Age of, Retirement Is Reached by Incumbents. IH WASHINGTON. Dec. S. Attorney Gen-H Gen-H eral McReyraplds. In his nrat report aa B head of the law department of the gov-H gov-H ernnient submitted to congress today, H makes few recommendations for .legists .legis-ts lation. Tho changes he urges havo moro LB to do with tho machinery of courts than X with tlie fabric of the law. B On an antl-trnst legislative programme H the attorney general was 6llent, He Lfl . asked congrosB for no amendment to tho jM Sherman act, the rod his department ubcb 3 to bring trusts to termB, and he points B out no fault In Its operation. B President Wilson, however, Intends to B send a special mossago on the trust B question to congress In the near future, B and that undoubtedly will embody some B of the attorney general's views. 1 Point Is Made Clear. B Attornoy General McReynolds made It B clear, however, that bo long as he waB B head of the department he would oppose B court decrees In anti-trust suits whero B the combination was dissolved Into pnrts B under tho control of the same stockhold-B stockhold-B era. That plan, adopted In the Standard B Oil and Tobacco cases, ho calls a "funda-fl "funda-fl mental defect," and later adds In the U same connection: 'My fixed purpose Is fl to oppose any plan of dissolution which B would leave tho separate parts of tho B unlawful combination under tho control jB of the same aet of men." B The attorney general offers a novol soil so-il lutlon of the problem of superannuated I federal Judges. uch judges, under the B constitution, hold office during good bo-fl bo-fl hnvlor, although they may retire at the I age of 70 after ton years service, fl "I suggest," says the attorney general, fl "an act providing that when ariy Judge fl below the supreme court falls to avail I himself of the privilege of retiring now B gi anted by law. that the president bo B required, with the advice and consent of fl tiie senate, to appoint another Judge, B who shall preside over the affairs of the B court and. have precedence over the older I one. This will insuro at all times the B presence of a Judge sufficiently active B to discharge promptly and adequately B the duties of the court." I Would Change Rule. B ilr. McReynolds suggests that clerks B of United Slates courts should be ap-B ap-B pointed for specified terms and subject B to removal by the president for cause, B and usks that provision he made for a " review by the supreme court of the new B final decisions of tho court of customs uppcal, on application only by the gov-I gov-I eminent, lie approves the bill introduced I by. Representative Clayton giving the su- preme court power to promulgate rules for trials on the lav side of federal courts. Ho reminds congrcBs alno of needs of changco In hla ofllco and an increase in-crease In the salaries paid. Ho terms tho present salaries "moderate for the cluiractor and amount of work to be performed." per-formed." . Coming to the review of tho events with which hla department has been concerned con-cerned for the fiscal year, the attornoy general shows that when ho took oftlce tlfty-two caaoH were pending under the Sherman law. and that since March olght cases have been begun. Investigations of complaints that the law has been violated vio-lated pour into the department by the ecore each month and come from all parts of tho country. Investigations Made. "In many Instances," tho report rcad3, "the investigation has fulled to disclose facts which would Justify the Institution of formal proceedings, but notice of tho activity of the government has Impelled officers of largo and Industrial corporations corpora-tions to curtail dangerous tendencies. Tho bureau of Investigation has lookod Into thousands of cases of all kinds, those concerning violations of tho Sherman Sher-man law and the national banking act averaging togother more than Any a month. Through the bureau of Investigations and a corps of local white slave officers, tho department, the attorney general says, has vigorously carried on tho work of prosecution of offenders and has helped supprosa the traffic. Out of tho J475.000 allotted for the detection and prosecution of crime, $175,000 has been set aside for that work and the attorney attor-ney goneral concludes "tho department feals that very material progress has been made, particularly during the past year, In suppressing tho most vlcloun features of this traffic." |