The Beef Trust and Government Authority
By L. A. S.
A CONTEST is now in progress before the public view which will determine the question whether the American beef trust, said to be the greatest and most powerful of all trusts, is subject to the authority of the United States government. A temporary injunction against this trust was granted recently by Judge Grosscup, of Chicago, which has now been made permanent by the United States Supreme Court; and Attorney-General Moody, behind whom stands the forceful personality of President Roosevelt, is ready to begin proceedings against the trust in accordance with the provisions of the federal law. The Washington Post of February 1 says:— It can be said by authority that unless corporations constituting the alleged “beef trust” shall heed the injunction made permanent Monday by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, the government will institute proceedings against the individual members of the corporations to enforce the decision of the court. The proceedings will be under the criminal law, if such can be instituted. The minds of the president and members of his cabinet are made up fully on the question. They have determined that the “beef trust” shall obey the law, and, now that the highest court in the land has upheld the hands of the administration, it is said they will permit no further “dilly-dallying” with the subject. The real question, of course, is not whether the beef trust will be able to openly and directly defy the authority of the government, for no trust would attempt that; but whether the trust may not, by the judicious use of its wealth and influence, be able to find some refuge in the labyrinth of legal technicalities where it will have the protection of law while continuing its career as a law-breaker.
L. A. S.