The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1900-05-25

d
| tween the District of Columbia and anv stata
illegal. u'oiAte''
Every person who shall make any such con.
tract or engage in any such combination or
conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty Of a m,s-
! demeanor, and, on convection thereof. shall
be punished by fine not exceeding FIVE thor.
sand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceed-
ing one year, or by both said punishments. in
! the discretion of the court.
oec. 1. The several circuit courts of tba
| United States are hereby invested with iuris-
dlctIon to prevent and restrain violations of
TINS act; and it shall be the duty of the sever.
al district attorneys of the United States in
tHelr respective districts, under the direction
- the attorney general to institute proceed
lnRs IN equity to prevent and restrain such
violations o'
ouch proceedings may be by way of peti.
ton setting forth the case and praying that
such violation shall be enjoined or otherwise
prohibited. "'''
When the parties complained ofishall have
Ueen uuly noClhed OF such petition the court
sh@li proceed, as soon as may be, to the hear
ing and determination of the case. and nand
ing such petition, and before final decree Iba
court may at any time make such temporary
restraining order or prohibition as shall he
deemed just in the premises.
0ec. ?. Whenever it shall appear to the
court before which any proceeding under
section four of this act may be pending. that
the ends OF Justice require that other parties
should be brought before the court, the court
may cause them to be summoned. whether
they reside IN the district in which the coprt
IS held or not; and subpoenas to that end NAV
m be served III any district by the marshal
thereof.
Sec =. Any property owned under any
contract or by any combination, or pursuant
to any conspiracy land being the subject
thereot) mentioned in section one of this act.
ana being IN the course Of transportation from
one state to another, or to foreign country
shall be forfeited to the United States. and
may be seized and condemned by like pro-
ceedings as those provided by law for the for
TEXTURE, seizure and condemnation Of property
imported into the United States contrary TO
law.
Sec. Z. Any person who shall be injured in
his business or property by any other person
or corporation by reason Of anything forbid
den or declared to be unlawful by this act,
may sue therefor in any circuit court Of the
United States in the district in which the de-
tendant resides or + found without respect to
the amount in controversy, and shall recover
three-toId the damages by him sustained, and
the costs OF suit, including q reasonable at
torneys fee
Sec. s. That the word person." or "per-
sons, wherever used in this act shall be
deemed to include corporations and associa-
tlons existing under or authorized by the laws
OF either the United States, the laws of any of
the territories, the laws of any state, or the
laws of any foreign country.
A careful peru5al OF this law will show
that 1T not only provides a severe pun
Ishment Tor its violation, but also pro-
vldes Tor the prevention thereof by in
junction. 1t may be that the democratic
party, not believing in government by
injunction" objects to that feature Of
the law; but is not an ounce Of preven-
ton worth q pound OF cure? This act
also furnishes every person who may be
Injured in his business or property by
the violation Of the act with q remedy
to recover Of the viOlatOr three-foId the
damages he may thereby sustain. The
only objection raised against trusts by
the democratic leaders il that they are
responsible for the higher prices now
prevailing, notwithstanding their advO-
cacy Of free silver, because that would,
as they contend, mean higher prices.
If prices are now too high, why do the
democratic leaders want them to BE
still higher? 1t seems to me that that
party's campaign four years ago was
made solely on the proposition that
things were too cheap, and that it pro-
posed to have free silver in order to
raise prices but it seems now that it's
present campaign will be conducted on
the proposition that things have raised
in price since four years ago. Are wool,
sheep, cattle, horses, etc, too high?
Were it not for the unusually high
charters, wheat on this coast would be
nearly ten cents bushel more. Would
then wheat with normal charters be too
high? Surely, If the trusts are respOn-
sble for such better prices for sheep,
cattle, horses, etc, they are not alto
gether evils without any blessings.
But suppose trusts are evils, are they
eradicated by denunciation? Is a par
ent's agony over a sick child relieved
any by simply being told by his doctor
that he has a very sick child. If trusts
are rampant and are devouring the peO-
pie, the question il, What is the remedy?
Let US, therefore, hear from that party
as to their remedy, and as to why they
did not do anything against trusts when
they had in the past the power. Trusts
then existed in their worst phases, for
since then court after court has greatly
restricted them. But every intelligent
man knows that for the last three years
the demand for industrial and manu-
factured articles has enormously in
creased, as cOnclusively shown by the
greatly increased activity OF the factories
and amount Of freight carried by the
railroads throughout the United States,
and that responsive to such enormous
demand the prices OF manufacturing
commodities arose in obedience to the
fundamental law Of supply and demand.
And every intelligent person also knows
that following an increase in the de-
mand for any commodity there il gener-
ally an increase in the production Of
that commodity, and, in consequence,
that after prices rise they fall. And
every intelligent person knows that the
capacity for increased production in the
factories is practically without limit on
account Of machinery employed, but
that the capacity for production Of agri-
cultural commodities has limit in ma
ture's restriction OF the quantity Of pro-
ductive soil. So every intelligent person
realizes that, not only is there a general
tendency towards cheapness for the ne
cessities and conveniences Of life, but
that this tendency is stronger for the
conveniences than the necessities OF life.
This general tendency towards cheap
ness, OF course, is interferred with by ex-
ceptional spasmodc exceptions to the
contrary; but these spasmodic excep-
tions are the forerunners OF a period OF