The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-03-27
THE PEOPLE UNPROTECTED.
HONEST INDUSTRY HELPLESS.
The Bill Against Trusts Useless for
that Purpose, But 1t Is Turned
to the imprisonment of La
boring Men.
Philadelphia American.

Iu1lGU0iQulA Au0FICGns
The Sherman bill to put down the
trusts has been found etficacious to do
what it's author never contemplated
and Congress would not have agreed
to do. 1t has been used to revive the
doctrine that strike is conspiracy
in restraint of trade and may be pun
ished as such-at least, where it con-
Germs railway. 1t now seems that it
is entirely worthless for the purpose
for which it was drafted and passed.
1t cannot be used to put check to
the process of concentrating indus
tries under the unified control Of a
trust. This the Supreme Court has
decided in the suit brought by the
Department Of Justice against the
Sugar Trust. Stimulated to indigna-
tion by the success Of the trust in Sc
curing the terms if asked in the pre-
paration of the German tariff, and in
the passage Of that tariff through the
Senate and House, the administration
suddenly remembered law which has
stood on the statute book for nearly a
decade, and never once enforced. But
the Court finds that the law is good
for nothing. Congress. indeed, can
control Interstate commerce, but not
the production of any article within
any State. 1t is one thing to make
the article, or even to establish a
monopoly in it's manufacture; it is an
other to carry it across State lines.
The former is where the monopoly
lies, and the State must deal with it.
The latter cannot be culpably con-
nected with the monopoly in a way
which justifies the nation in bringing
to bear it's powers of control.
Nothing remains but to wipe off the
statute book a law which has proved
SO powerless for the good it aimed at,
and resulting in an evil it's authors
had not fOreseen, unless, indeed, the
Supreme Court should sustain the ap-
peal of Mr.. Debs and his associates
against the application Of the law to
| their case. In that case there will be
nothing left for Congress to repeal.
In any case the Supreme Court has
declared that the national govern
ment cannot lift finger to protect it's
| people against the tyrannical power Of
great commercial com binatiOnS, which
| can plunder the people as unscrupu-
lousy as so many highwaymen, with
| out incurring any penalty whatever;
| for the power to remove all duties
from the importation of articles con-
trolled by the trusts will be Of no
avail. Some of the trusts deal in arti-
cles in which there is no competition
| from abroad. Others are already es-
tablished on an international footing,
and have nothing to fear, therefore,
from any tariff policy. The rest can
| and will do the same as soon as they
find it necessary.
AS to State control, it amounts to
little, especially when peccant cor
poratiOn can take refuge behind a
charter granted by another State,
after formally abandoning that which
is held from the State, after formally
abandoning that which it held from
the State where it is located. Thus
the Sugar Trust has obtained protec-
tion from the laws of New York by
obtaining a charter from the Demo
cratic Legislature of New Jersey. Sc
in this respect, as in some Others, the
inadequacy of our national Constitu
tion as interpreted by such jurists as
Chief Justice Fuller, leaves us unprO.
tected and helpless in the hands OF
corporate greed and audacity. Were
we of those who yearn for violent
insurrectian against the public order
of the country. we would find the
greatest satisfaction in this decision