The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-30

stitutions which, in their conduct, ap-
pear to be operated in hostility to the
antitrust law are not assailed in their
strong entertainments. The reply to
this complaint must be that the law
has not been appealed to by those who
suffer or imagine they suffer from
these other trust combinations, in the
same measure in which the court has
been appealed to to determine this I'M
portant question of transportation
rates.
Immediately following the decision
in the Trans Missouri case the Joint
Traffic association. in it's concentrated
faulty, pretended that the organiza-
ton under that head was sort of
free will agency over which the SUI
preme law of the land had no control.
III other words the Joint Traffic associ-
alton constituted itself a family
of public carriers. They assembled
together and said: There are so many
Of us in this congregation; we are all
entitled to a living; we must derive
that living from the constituency that
we serve: we must adjust our rates in
such a manner that no one of US thirty
one shall suffer-" Now, if the number
of roads to be considered had been six
teen instead of thirty lone, conditions
might have been different; but the mul-
tiplicatiOn of roads contemplated,
through their requil ements for support,
exactions from the public which We're
wholly unjustifiable and which
amounted to a tribute calculated to
Oh, IL.
Of control of individual rights associat-
ed with the commerce Of the land.
This decision strikes by one well di-
rected blow at the support which many
railroads have relied upon for their
existence Composition is wholesome,
when it's principles do not involve pi-
racy and robbery. Let Us suppose, for
a moment; that a band Of capitalists
should at this moment project and con-
struct another railway Inc betWe ST
Paul and the Pacific coast, in the
Northwest, in anita gon.Sm to the Great
Northern Northern Pacific, and, we
may add, the $500 come ction with
the Canadian Pacific Weu,d there be
any justification in a combination of
all the lines with a view to mulcting
all along the way, having for its Oh
ject only the compensation of all the
roads, including the additional cost
created by The advent of the inter
loper?
All these questions ought to be view
ed from a platform Of common sense
ard common honesty. There is so much
traffic to be carried. There is ample
competition In all directions! BetWe5n
the Atlantic seaboard and the Missis-
sippi river the facilities are over abdn-
dant The tendency of rates in this
country has been downward. They
are already only about one-half the
transportation rates Of continental
Europe. Development of communities
will produce annually increasing vol
umes Of traffic. These must prove the
sustaining elements CT the roads now
in existence. Competition should be
fair and open, and it should not be in
cumbent upon any one organization to
aid III the support Of q weaker line.
The roads should stand on their m 2ritS
ON their business capacity to attract
traffic. If they are not supplied with
the important adjuncts Of talent in
bringing grist to their mills, they de-
serve to yield up their individuality
ard submit to absorption by lines OF
greater strength. This last suggestion,
after all, WILL when carried into effect,
solve this whole question involving dis
putations over rates. The railway Sit
uation today, in this country, is in
choate. The fabric is well laid but its
utilization must be controlled in the
future by few masserful minds whose
training in the business world snail
qualify them to gather the strings OF
the entire web to one base, and that
base must recognize amenability to the
law and the equitable rights Of every
patron Of railway lines throughout the
country.