Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-03-16
Doubt And Danger Not In The Law.

In proceeding to suppress the.
lawless coal monopoly the State au-
thorities can evince their sincerity
only by thoroughness and effective
ness in the character of the remedies
they seek to apply to the evil.
The Attorney General has two
methods of legal redress, which he
may ask for in the name Of the peo-
pie of the State. OAe of these is by
bill! in equity for discovery and to
restrain the continuance and exercise
of the unlawful combination and for
the annulment and cancellation OF
the leases by which the combination
was effected. The other is for writ
Of qVo Ca rdnto by which the State
will seek to recover from the offend
ing corporations their franchises, be-
cause of the violation of their char
ters and the law of the land Both
of these proceedings should be insti-
tuted simultaneously. The contest
once entered upon will be no child's
play unless the State authorities
make it such by the feebleness and
insincerity of their action. Five hun
dred millions of money may be relied
on to avail itself of every technicality
and safe device to combine Its selfish
and unlawful purpose to maintain o
dangerous and profitable monopoly
to the public detriment.
There is one thing, however, that
$500, 100000 Of money will not ct
tempt, and that is, it will notrun the
risk of imperilling its corporate fran
chises and destroying itself by per-
sisting in q continued violation of
law after the State, by proper pro-
ceedings, has warned it OF the conse-
quences and of the protest of the of
ticial representatives of the law and
the people. Such vast aggregation
of capital may be self=h, unscrupu-
lCus, arrogant, and hsartless, but it
is not brave, nor even reckless. 1t Is
cowardly. The Attorney General,
therefore, should not alone procsed
by bill il equity for restrictive RENE
dial process, but by qmo CRTrdnto for
the exaction of the legal penalty of
iawlessness.
Let him use every weapon in the
arsenal of the law for an aggressive
assault upon the monopoly ''all along
the line" Ii by delays, tinesse, or
technical defeDses it attempts to en-
barra.s or hinder the State in the
proceedings by bill in equity, let him
have bis action by quo waTraato in
readiness and attack the very yita's
of the monster If to one action it
pleads this exteuuati0n OF its crime
as an answer to preventive process
let him be ready instantly to demand
the forfeiture of the franchises that
were thus misused and made iustru
ments of public wrong a defiance of
the organic law.
As has been pointed out to the At
torney General, however, he need
have no fear of the success of any
such narrow technicality indicated
pleaded against bill for equitable
relief against a continuing public
wrong. The Constitution prohibits
railroads from controlling" compet-
ing lines, not from leasing them.
Leasing is only one Of the methods
by which control is effected 1t is
the :'conlrol' of the competitor that
is prohibited, and that is a continu-
ing act that equity will restrain at
any tims irrespective of the fact of
the consummation Of tho means by
which it was brought about.
Altogether the Attorney General
will have nothing to fear from the
ineffectiveness of the processes Of the
law or the inappliclbility of its prin
ciples or the paucity OF its remedies.
The danger-the only danger-for
the people is in the full power and
compreheDsivsness and majesty of
the law not being zealeusly, sincere
ly, and aggressively invoked"