The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-02
opinion of Supreme Court in State Of
Minnesota u.s. Northern securities COMPANY


one hand and citizen of another state
and citizens of the complainant state
on the other. Accordingly, the bill was
dismissed for want of parties who should
be Joined but could not be without GUST
ing cur jurisdiction.
We shall, therefore, proceed to examine
the substance of the bill proposed to be
filed in order to see whether it dis
closes a case in which decree could be
granted which would do final and, COM
plete justice between the nominal par
ties without vitality affecting other per-
sons not before the court AS already
stated, conclusion reached that the suit
cannot be entertained for want of nee
ess2ry and essential parties, will not inn
ply any expression of opinion beyond
that question.
Summary of Allegations.
AS the bill is set forth in full in the
preceding statement, it will not be nee
essary here to repeat it's allegations.
They may be summarized as follows:
The complainant is the state of Min
nesota;. the defendant is the Northern
Securities company, a corporation of the
state of New Jersey,
1t is part of the policy of the state of
Minnesota as declared in its public stat
utes, to prohibit therein the consoIida-
ton in any manner OF competing and par
allel lines Of railway. The statutes spe-
cially recited in the bill are the act of
March 8, 1874, the first section whereof is
in the following terms: No railroad
corporation or the lessees, purchaser or
managers of any rail1 DAD company shall
consolidate the stock, property or fran
chlSe Of such corpora ton with, or lease
or purchase the works or franchise of, or
i'll anyway control any other railroad COR
poration owning or having under it's con-
troll parallel or competing line; nor shall
any officer of such railroad corpora ton
act as an officer of any other railroad
corporation owning or having the. control
on parallel or competing line, and the
question whether railroads are par
aliel or competing lines shall,
when, demanded by the party complain
ant, be decided by a jury as in other
civil issues" And the act of March g.
1881, of which the third section is as fol-
lows: mo railroad company shall con-
soidate with. lease or purchase, or in any
way become the owner of or control any
other railroad corporation or stock, fran
chises rights of property thereof, which
owns or controls parallel or d COM
peting line.
The Great Northern Railway company
Is corporation organized and existing
under an act duly passed by the territory
OF Minnesota and under various subse-
quent acts of the state of Minnesota, and
owns and controls as lessee, several i'm
portant lines of railroads., some only with
in and others extending beyond the state
OF Minnesota, and which are maintained
by the Great Northern Railway company
as one complete system. The board Of
directors of the Great Northern Railway
company at the time of the organization
of the Northern Securities company, to-
w.t. on or about Nov. 13, 1901, was and
now Is composed of the following named
persons, to-Wit: James J. HILL James N.
HILL Samuel Hill, William P Clough, Ed
ward Sawyer, Jacob H. Schiff and Henry
W. Cannon. That on said last mentioned
date the Great Northern Railway COM
pany had issued and there was outstand-
ing total Of s125 900, par value, of
the capital stock of said corporation, of
which, it is alleged that the said James
j.. Hill was on said last mentioned date
the owner Of or had subject to his di-
rection and disposition, more than a ma
loritys OF said capital stock so outstand-
ing.
The Northern Pacific Railway company
was organized under the laws Of the state
OF Wisconsin of the year 1885, and after
wards by Ming a certified copy of its ar
t!cIeS OF incorporation, became corpora
ton of the state of Minnesota, and sub
Ject to the laws of that state relating to
railroad corporations. In the year 1896
the Northern Pacific Railway company
duly purchased and became the owner of
the entire railroad properties and lines
te1merly owned by the Northern Pacific
railroad company, and at all times nee
has continuously owned and operated
each and all of said lines of railway sit
Uated within the state of Minnesota and
which connect the cities of st. Paul and
Minneapolis and Duluth and which con-
meet with the Uses of railways outside the
state of Minnesota. During the year 1889
the said Northern Pacific Railway COM
pany purchased and ever since has own
ed and operated line of railway extend
ing from the cities of st. Paul and Min
nieapolis to Duluth, MINI. Said
last mentioned line parallels and is a
competing line of railway for both freight
and passenger traffic with the line of rail-
way between said Minneapolis and ST.
Railway Company of Minnesota, but
which is operated, controlled and man
aged by said Great Northern Railway
company, as a part Of the system Of that
company. The lines of railway now own
ed and operated by said Great Northern
Railway company within the state OF
Minnesota are parallel and competing
with the lines of railway now owned, OPP
Grated and controlled by the said North
ern Pacific Railway company within the