Show THE a conspiracy AGAINST TH TRUST S LEGISLA legislation A sensation rivaling that caused a year rear ago by his discovery of an insidious looby lobby at work to wreck tariff reform the washington correspondents tell us was created last week by president Wil wilsons sons intimation of a plot to prevent the senate from passing the administrations antitrust bills As evidence that the same influences which brought subtle pressure to bear against the tariff and currency bills are now at al work to induce congress to adjourn without further antitrust legislation the Pres dent showed the correspondents certain circular letters which he implied are being widely distributed with the suggestion that they be used as models tor for similar letters of protest to the washington legislators isla tors the gist ot of these circulars is that in view ol of the hard times the country Is experiencing business can not endure any more upsetting legislation and therefore congress Cos gress can best serve the public good by adjourning one of them sent out by president ahnelt of the pictorial review company new york was accompanied by a letter requesting every bustness business man receiving it to write to the representatives ot of his own state in the house and senate and to the president of the united states urging congress to halt haft before it Is too late after referring as to a matter ot of common knowledge to the fact that prosperity has been lost somewhere in this country owing to the mischievous activities of oc the politicians the letter goes on say we enclose herewith draft of a letter which embraces the views lews of a majority ot of the thinking business people of our section of the country I 1 might we suggest it you agree with us that thal you take the trouble ol of writ j ing letters of a similar character to I 1 the president the members ot of the i united states senate and the house ot of representatives from your state it if you prefer to use coplea copies of the the enclosed letter we will mail you as many copies as you can con conveniently use just send us a postal card it will be more effective however it if you write critel them on your own letters heads the I 1 sooner this appeal is made the greater effect it will have on the politicians who have caused the loss of prosperity i the sensation in official circles was not lessened by the tact fact that another of 0 these widely circulated documents urging a halt for the present in all legislation tor for the cont control rol of bus business kiess 1 was fathered by the st louis hardware ha rd company whose head E C simmons was offered and declined to ac capt a place on the federal reserve j board such letters the president suggested showed the process by which the present I psychological depression press loa has been artificially created after making public these documents the correspondents tell us president wilson sent for the democratic steering committee of the senate reiterated hij hi belief that actual business conditions iare are normal and improving and asserted with emphasis emphes Is that all the influence he possessed would be exerted against the adjournment of congress without the completion ot its antitrust program he ex prest the belief that the most unsettling thing that could happen to bust business would be to bo be left for six or eight months longer in uncertainty as to what form the promised antitrust legislation would take the president is clearly right declares colonel Watter sons louisville courier journal dem which believes that it congress adjourned with these measures in abeyance it would be the height of cowardice cowardice and tolly folly like leaving an operation halt performed because it hurts the nashville banner dem finds the 13 presidents residents charge of an organized movement against further legislation well sustained by the evidence and remarks that it Is no doubt also true that the business depression the president says is 15 psychological had its first cause in the same came mD movement since it apparently has no other reason to exist the way for business men to clear the public mind Is to withdraw all attempts at obstruction and thereby demonstrate that they have nothing to tear fear from any fair laws urges the st SL louis republic dem the president is edy right in attributing the delay in acting on the trust bills to the campaign conducted conducted by many of the concerns against which they are aimed declares clares Ie the philadelphia record dem and in the baltimore sun ind we read we do not think that there is anything criminal in the action of the pictorial review in asking its readers to send letters and telegrams to the president and leading congressmen and senators demanding t that at antitrust legislation be abandoned for the present but it was one ol of those things that are worse than crimes being blunders for a generation now this country has been in a condition of excitement over the question of regulation ot of corporations P po the turmoil and trouble are bound to continue until that question ts Is settled and settled right the failure ol of one congress to act means I 1 merely that there will be a bigger abinger demand tor for the next congress to act while this situation obtains there comes to the white house a man who knows what needs to be done and who ter is intent upon doing it in a way that will not harm legitimate business he is applying all his great powers to that end he has a congress ot of the same mind with him and while he is moving heaven and earth to settle tills question of corporation reguL aelva and protect legitimate business at the same time a fool action of the very men he is trying to help comes in to perplex and hinder him it he were less well balanced than he is this sort of 0 thing might deflect him from his purpose that wont happen but what shall be thought ol of the business men who play thus into the hands of their erenies en enles enies the chicago herald another inde 1 pendent paper agrees that contress Con Kress gres should not be influenced by a manufactured public opinion of that kind that the Fres president ident condemns and characterizes the circulars quoted as an insult to the recipient A wash 1 ington dispatch to the now new york co commercial m corn states elates that since the president made public his charge many manufacturers and other bustness business men throughout the country have hare written to him In dorsing his views that the present psychological depression has been artificially created and in the washington con correspondence esponde ace of 0 the new york herald ind we find his bis position further buttressed by senators P mel mcl simmons dem of north carolina and hoke smith dem ot of georgia says senator simmons the inspiration and motives ok 0 the c lamity calamity a agitation now going on in the country grow out of the desire of certain opponents of this legislation to postpone temporarily with ith the hope of ultimately defeating these reforms As soon as it is definitely settled and I 1 authoritatively announced that it Is the fiat purpose of 0 the senate to pass the bills at this session of congress much of 0 the mischievous propaganda will at once come to an end it Is inconceivable declares senator hoke smith that the administration should let up now particularly in view of the propaganda which has been made against these bills and he adds the enactment of these measures will mean added security which honest business men have not en enjoyed oyed before many papers on oa the other hand are convinced that president wilson has discovered not a conspiracy sp iracy but a mares nest not all of those who honestly believe in a legislative interval want to go on record as being in a conspiracy of obstruction st remarks the atlanta con which thinks that the president de nt underestimates the wide and no nonpartisan non n partisan dimensions of the sentiment looking toward a rest cure for business the conspiracy charge la Is rather thin remarks the springfield republican which regrets that the president has caught mr Roosevel ts old distemper president wilsons Wll Wil sons suggestion of a plot against his trust program remarks the new york evening post will make the I 1 judicious ludl clous among his friends grieve and in the new york world we read the president Is right when he declares that there seems to be an organized campaign to prevent further antitrust legislation at this time but the campaign is not necessarily inspired by dishonest or wicked motives business men in general feel that with the now new tariff and the new banking and currency law following the period of agitation over the sherman antitrust law the country has as much new legislation as it can digest at this time tha they y may be mistaken but there is certainly no reason why they should not say what they think when the president says there is acceleration cele ration of public sentiment against his trust bills he is right but when he says there is no business depression he Is wrong turning to less friendly critics we find the philadelphia press rep remarking that tor for the first time in the history of the country business la Is denied the right of or self defense while the philadelphia public ledger ind rep characterizes the presidents president s charge as a denunciation of public opinion the ledger goes on to remind us that in the first clause of the bill of rights Is a guaranty that the people shall be allowed to petition the government tor for a redress of grievances and it adds the administration may divide the nation into the 1 1 sheep and the goats but the able fact remains r that mei men who have achieved success are still citizens that the prosperous are as much en toted to petition for redress as those who are not prosperous why should not business roen men organize opposition to the presidents president antitrust program if they think it dangerous or even it if they merely dislike itaskas it asks the new york sun ind which aids that it if any conspiracy against president wilson exists it is a conspiracy not of malefactors but of facts arguing against administrative and legislative policies by word of mouth in circulars I 1 and letters or with editorials la III the full privilege perfect right and when honestly done clear duty of ev whose conviction Is that thoss thosa coill oakles es are unwise and harmful delares lares the new york press pr g while the new york evening mail asks impressively AVIi where ers then can the business men 0 of f th the e country turn tor for a hearing it if not ten fix the president ot of the united states ani and congress 9 it is no worse to ask a fellow being to write a letter than it is to ask him to sign a petition remarks the X new ew york globe rep and tile the wall street journal fin warns the president against making makine himself ridi ridiculous calous says the wall street paper those letters are entirely proper they represent a rank frank and aboveboard effort to influence public opinion in a way any citizen may use without committing a moral or everl even a a teelin technically trally legal wrong they arec area entirely proper expressions ot of individual opinion hitherto mr wilsons Wll Wil sons political opponents have strengthened him by taking him seriously but he himself surrenders all the advantage so gained when he shows an all intemperance under criticism so BO puerile that his best friends will laugh at him the same admonition is offered by the detroit free press ind and the providence journal ind warns hin him against underestimating the bublis sentiment behind these protests similar warnings are uttered by the buaton boa herald ind and transcript rep brooklyn standard unto anlo i i rep pittsburg gazette times rep albany journal rep and baltimore news says the baltimore paper the president enC we believe overlooks one important fact act which la is that the demand tor for postponement ol oc legislation cornea comes not only from the tha trusts that are to be regulated but from the smaller business units that their regulation is presupposed to benefit except little business felt itself temporarily inthe in tn the same boat with ble big business it would not back the latter up there can be beno no dental of tbt fact act that at the present moment they are in close alliance that both arek ara suffering that both desire a rest from froik legislation and that it if there exists any widespread wide spread demand at all for immediate legislation it Is political and not commercial it may possibly be that the dent takes a much longer stew afew of thu the situation thap chaa business can take froin behind its dally sales record that seeing legislation of some sort ineal inevitable he prefers his own and that as a surgeon it 11 would be professionally unwise for him to lose the chance or of operating now when his patient nap hap pens to be already under ether nevertheless the patient is conscious enough tor for strong protest organized and spontaneous he wants wants the doctor to quit the congressional assistants and nurses to go home literary digest |