Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-10-02

to the business and commerce OF tho
country. That they are beneficial to
The members and perhaps to the ocal-
ity may be admitted. IT must also be
admitted that a properly
agency or medium through which the
vendor and vendee may readily sell
and buy everything that enters into
commerce or trade is demanded 10y the
business interests of the whole coun-
try; but this agency should not be
permitted 10 tamper with OF IN any
way restrain the natural flow OIL the
stream of industry or commerce.
THE crying complaint of today ana
the great menace to the welfare OF the
people is the tendency of wealth to mo-
nopolize and control by trusts and com
b!nes the products and industries of the
country, and it must be confessed by
| every thoughtful observer that many OF
the so-called stock and produce ex-
changes are among the most potent IN
strumentalities for the accomplishment
Of these purposes by spectators n ad-
venturers. Men who add nothing to the
DTOQutllNe MNdllh u INV tOuiNA b.
rich or poor by gambling on the wealth
produced by others. Men are daily
selling through these exchanges mil
lions Of bushels of corn, wheat and 9TH
er produce who neither have nor expect
to have a bushel, and others are buying
millions who never expect TO receive a
bushel. Both sides are tampering with
the normal prices fixed by the law or
supply and demand and attempting by
false and dishonest means and methods
to serve their ends. The courts have
uniformly condemned this class OF busi-
ness as illegal. and, though 1t is under
the ban of the law, 1t still flourishes.
The remedy must he looked for I'm legis-
latlon, and not in the courts alone.
The Laws Aim--Interstate Business
This act Of congress is aimed against
all restrictions Of interstate
and we need not discuss the reasonable
ness OF such restrictions L, Is evidently
the purpose of the law to permit COM
merce between the states 10 now In its
natural channels, unrestricted by any
combines, contracts or conspiracies or
monopolies whatever"
Judge Foster cites a long line of de-
NtfiAA'S 1iAN AHNA - D'N HNN
material question remains in the case:
Is the business i'm which the defendants
are engaged between the
states? The circumstance that their
place Of business is located on both
sides OF the line between the states of
Kansas and Missouri is. in my opinion,
a fact of no material Importance OF the
solution Of this question-no more than
.---,Il - H. g.a4 49,. A.,
farmer or manufacturer was 50 loct ted
and that he passed from one state to
the other for his convenience in the
transaction of his usual business"
Judge Foster tells how the Kansas
City commission men lend money on
stock and solicit business all over the
west, says the broker In soliciting sales
is also on the alert for purchasers and
sells without regard TO the destination
OF the stock. He asks again. rs this
interstate commerce or merely an Incl
dent Of such commerce." and quotes de-
cision after decision.
Clearly Interstate Commerce.
In a summary the judge says: 1T is
indisputable that all the live stock
shipped TO these defendants for sale
PNaNNo AAN iah VI Ills
souri,, after it has entered the current Of
commerce between the states, continue
and remain subjects of such
until the transportation is terminated.
and the property becomes a part of the
genera! property of the state IT is aIso
well settled that while this property is
the subject of interstate no
state, municipality or other power but
rAnureSu am f,,.,..a ,..
or regulations upon IL. except so far as
is proper in the exercise of police regu-
lations for the protection Of the health.
morals and person OF the citizen, and
except for prope charges and regula-
tons for the use OF local Instruments as
aids or incidents TO such commerce.
such as docks, bridges, wharves, eleva-
tors. ferries. ptictnEe.
sss:s s~s.ssss- &C. sss-s :sa az.
question whether, when unloaded ar
the Kansas City stock yards. the stock
ceases TO be a part OF interstate COM
merce. To answer his own question. he
asks could the state of Kansas tax
them, and 1t with decisions
which show that 1t could not. In clos-
ing. he says: This live stock Is shipped
from different states for immediate sale
and, If the market is not satisfactory. Il
Is 20 be shipped TO another market. /
csnnotb believe 1t ceases TO be the subject
OF interstate III when unloaded
into the stock yards. Sections 1886 and
43S7 OF the revised statutes humanely
prohibits any railroad company whose
roads form any part OF a line over which
the animals are conveyed from one state
TO another from combining them in cars
over twenty-eight consecutive hours
without unloading them for rest, water
and food for at least five consecutive
hours. Under act of congress OF May
20, 1884. establishing a bureau of animal
industry. and the act of March 3. 1891,
for the inspection Of live cattle. hogs,
etc. the general government has estab.
lished inspectors at the Kansas City
stock yards, assuming that such stock
m within the purvlew of said acts