The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-01-20
COMBINATION AGAINST COMPETITION

! Previous to 1889 free competition exist
ed between the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy railroads on freight rates between
Chicago and Ottawa, and as q consequence
the charge for frst-class freight between
Chicago and Ottawa was IS cents per 100
pounds. About the first Of May, 1882, both
railroads combined their freight interests,
and as consequence the rate on firstclass
freight between the two cities was advauc.
ed to 50 cents, over fifty per cent On &C.
count of this wicked conspiracy to sup
press free competition, the people of Ottawa
are helpessly subject TO the most gross
and outrageous impositions for freigh.
charges on goods and merchandise which
they must necessarily have shipped by the
railroads named, for by q combination of
interests they may charge any rate that
their natural greed tor the accumulation OF
wealth may suggest The combination of
tho above named railroands and the conse.
quent advance OF fifty per cent on freight
rates is given to illustrate the evil and
make the people sensible of the enormous
tax imposed on them by more than a
thousand other com blnatlons of like
character controlling different branches of
trade and traffic oil over the country. In
case of the railroads named the difference
between the competitive price and the
combination price Is fifty per cent, and so
it Is in every case of com bnation; the
price Is advance large percentage over
the price charged when free competition
existed between the parties to the combins.
ton. The people hare constitutional
right to the benefits of free competition, and
yet, as the law now stands, 1t does not af-
ford them the slightest protection from
combinations TO rob them. There are 20
statutory enactments prohibiting combine
lions to defeat free competition. The COM
mon law recognizes the evil, but judicial
determinations on the question are ex-
tremely few. In the few cases cited the
courts have held that the confederacy of
two or more persons to do an act against
public policy was conspiracy and punish
able by fine or Imprisonment IN the dis
erection OF the court. II has also been held
that conspiracy Is criminal when the act
to be done has necessary tendency to
prejudice the public or to Cypress individ-
uals by unjustly subjecting them to the
power of the confederates. The little law.
however, that there IS on the question is
made imperative BY general rule of law
which prescribes that the venue shall be
laid in the county where the conspiracy
was formed. AZ conspiracics are always
formed to do an unlawful act the time and
place where they arc entered into are
necessarily kept secret, so that the rule of
law laying the venue in the county where
the conspiracy Is formed absolutely pro-
hibits the prosecution Of the conspirators.
The combination existing between the
Chicago, Rock island & Pacific and the
SutSoSo, puAhbSsoh =" Tuihsy toiitOduS ~
conclusive on this point. II Is known
tact that the combination exists, but where
was 1, entered into? Was 1t in Chicago,
Detroit, Buffalo, or New York. Whereg
None but the parties to 1t know. To avoid
prosecution 1t may have been formed IN
the Kings Chamber in the great pyramid
Cheops where some OF the managers of
both roads met while on pleasure tosr in
Egypt. II Will be secn therefore that II is
not only necessary to amend the criminal
code 90 as to make combinations to sup
press free competition criminal conspIra-
cles, but to amend tho law in relation to
venue 80 that the conspirators can be pro-
secuted IN any venue where the object of
the conspiracy Is carried into execution.
A. LYNCH