The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-28

A SPECIMEN ANTITRUST LAW.
AS all the world knows, chiefly hv
reason Of the activity Of the Republican
brethren during the recent presidential
election against all trusts which possess
ed the slightest favor of Democratic pol
tiles or politicians in their membership.
the New York ice trust is a very wicked
concern. Our rough-riding vice presi-
dent-elect has himself said so from sew
eral stumps located in widely separated
| sections Of the country, and all good Re-
publicans necessarily accept his author
ity.
The New York ice trust has been pur-
sued and prosecuted in a greater variety
of ways than any other trust that ever
was or perhaps ever will be- It has been
prosecuted before the criminal bar. be-
fore the civil bar and before the bar of
Republican public opinion Mayor Van
Wyck and Richard Croker, both of New
York, have been held up to public
obloquy in connection with it, and an eff
fort has been made to deprive the former
OF his office for his supposed connection
with it. Newspapers of yellow tint have
We'd with each other in setting upon II
/ and every ambitious orator and politician
who acknowledges the leadership Of that
truly good antitrust statesman, Mark
Hanna, has won the pIaudits of the pub
lie in connection with it.
In the moments of his most enthusi-
astic attachment to popular rights dur
ing the recent campaign the great rough
riding governor used to ask his audience
to ask themselves how Democrats could
honorably assail his party in connection
with its antitrust record, especially in
view of its splendid performances In
antitrust legislation, and used to "point
with pride to the fact that the nefar-
ious ice trust was then being prosecuted
under the Republican antitrust law, then
on the statute books of his state. and
which had been put there by Republican
statesmen.
Now it happens that the New York
court of appeals has passed on that de-
hghtful antitrust enactment for which
Republican politicians in New York took
so much credit to themselves, and it has
been found that great and grand enact
ment does not admit of doing the slight
est thing in the way of putting an end
to the trust evil. 1t is, in fact, just such
another enactment as we in Minnesota
are indebted to our Republican states
men for. There is this essential differ
ence, however, between the Republican
antitrust enactment in Minnesota and
| the antitrust enactment in New YORK
The former is directed against trusts
hereafter to be formed" while the New
! York enactment can be made effective
against monopolistic contracts about tc
be made by trusts, but can in no wise
affect such contracts after they are made
and in operation. In other words, II
some jealous Republican prosecuting Of
| fetal who was lin on the ground floor
! 40 - SHN NOA1SS1llB I11dl li0 A110W IIldl
an Illegal and monopolistic contract was
about to be entered into, wanted to dc
so, he might proceed in his of.
fetal character to put an END
to it. If his official activity
Jagged behind his personal interest, fol
instance, as attorney for the trust; ana
he did nothing until the contract had
been made and executed, nothing that he
or anybody else could then do under thai
law would interfere in the slightes
measure with its fulfllment 1t would
be hard to see wherein the advantage o.
such an enactment lies over our own
which, by implication, legalizes all exist
Ing trust organizations and follows up a.
that may be formed afterwards with the
most terrific pains and penalties.
The New York ice trust was a GOOD
enough Morgan" in it's way Let Us
hope that we will hear no more abou
it, at least until the next political cam.
paign, and that in the interval the Re.
publican statesmen who signalized their
virtuous antagonism toward trusts ii
every way which eloquent speech might
suggest will forthwith inaugurate a vic
torious crusade against these wicked
formations which did so much to arouse
their wrath for some months during the
past summer and fall
From the car OF all the Russians, cams
the Initiative of the peace conference.
which ended in a scheme for universal
arbitration court. Now from the con-