Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1901 — WOULD WIPE OUT TRUSTS. [ARTICLE]

WOULD WIPE OUT TRUSTS.

Many Combinations Being Secretly Investigated by the Government. A Washington dispatch says that the Department of Justice is secretly at work investigating the trusts. The line upon which the investigation is being mad# is the Sherman anti-trust law. If violations are found the trust question then would resolve itself into a paramount legal issue and be fought to a finish. Against the federal government would be arrayed # vast aggregations of capital which go to make up the so-called octopuses. Secrecy is maintained by the department in the conduct of its investigation. Just what trusts are being looked into is known only to the investigators. This, too, is not at all improper, inasmuch as obstacles would be placed in their way by the combinations. concerned, to, perhaps, the fatal disadvantage of the government. the officials of the Attorney General's office are doing their utmost to obtain such information as will enable them to make a strong case. The work is necessarily of an arduous character. Every precaution must be exercised.