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THE GREEN BAG
In 1907 the Government had in its ser vice 271 District and Assistant District Attorneys. This little army of lawyers cost the Government in salaries and expenses $735,612.03 in addition to the salaries of the Department of Justice of $270,965.58. In the exercise of due diligence they secured 9741 convictions for violations of the law. The average number of convictions for vio lation of the Sherman anti-trust law during the last six years is a little more than one a year, only seven since September 14, 1901. In order to get the full significance of this record it should be borne in mind that during this period the Government has had available for its use for the enforce ment of this special statute at its election $500,000 in 1904 and $250,000 in 1908. Since September 14, 1901, with 8 injunc tions and 7 convictions, $386,242.88 has been expended for this special purpose, resulting in fines of only $96,000. For a condition where the violations are claimed
to be flagrant and the facts obvious, the results are practically infinitesimal. They are hardly commensurate with the expen diture and the efforts involved. Res ipsa loquitor. It may be that the predatory rich are lurking in every corner and that the malefactors of great wealth abound. We have been frequently so informed. If this be true and they have been going about continuously "seeking whom they may devour," the extent to which the wicked have thus far gone unwhipped of justice borders upon the grotesque. No doubt the mountain has labored, but the results are inconspicuous. They are in marked in verse proportion to the zeal and enthusiasm proclaimed in the enforcement of the law. If the claims are based upon information rather than upon imagination, then the old Scotch couplet might well apply: Woe to the coward that ever he was born. That did not draw the sword before he blew the horn.
NEW YORK, N. Y., June, 1908.
