The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-02-22
THE SIBERIAN ANTITRUST LAW.

THE SHERMAN ANTITRUST LAW.
President Roosevelt's action in proceed
ing against the Northern Securities Con-
pany under. the. Sherman act will at
least give the public an entertaining IL
not an instructive. lesson in the so-caaied
antitrust laws. which the President HIM
self so strcnuously condemned in his first
message TO Congress.
In this case there is no trouble between
the parties to the contract. The stock
holders. who have either sold out or Ia
ken potiuck with the new concern, are
all satisfied ni;l4 the Ccal and there IS
TO disagreement among them. the 1'sht
was started by persons on the OUTSIDE
by those who had only a general inter
est lin the railroad lines involved. An
appeal is MADE to the President. and ne
laws the matter before the Attorney-Gen-
eral. an.t the Acknowledgement decides
that this merger is in violation OF the
Sherman antitrust law. Ana so the
President directs him TO proceed AGAINST
the corporation, with 4 view to dissolTinS
it and having the shares of the Northern
Securities Company re-exchanEed for the
railroad shares and these returned to
the original holders.
The whole procedure seems to us to
be absurd OH its-facc. But granting!
for the sake of argument, that the Gov
eminent wins its case and that the
Northern Securities Company is dissolved
and the stocks of the various railroads
fnvolved are returned to the original pur-
chasecs What then? Will it not lie
the duty. of The President to inquire into
every other merger that has been effect
ed since the Sherman law was enacted?
sVilf it not be his duty 10 inquire INTO
the United States Steel Corporation and
every other such combination in eXis-
tcnce? And IF, in the opinion of the
Attorney General, these corporations are
existing in violation of the Sherman act
will it not be the duty of the President
TO proceed against them in the same way
aita drag them into court? And if the
court should decide that ali these cor
porations are illegal and must be dis
solved. what then?
The Governor of Minnesota and his
antitrust supporters will reply that II
such corporations are existing in viola
ton of law they ought To be dissolved
and that If they have been formct in
violation of law it is their own fault
and they deser~c to be punished for rio-
lating the law.
Very good But if all sucl, corporations
should be broken up, what would become
of the stockholders and what would be-
come of all other stocks and ionds in
existence? We think that we hear tho
Governor of Minnesota say that this is
simply a Wall-Street affair, and the
country does not care what happens TO
wall-Strect spectators; if they lose their
money it is nothing more than they
might expect, as those WHO play the
game of chance may expect to perish
by the game of chance.
Nonsense. This would be a WallStreet
affair in one sense. but it would be a
very much broader disaster than that.
Destroy the great corporations OF TINS
country to-day and YOU practically Ge-
stroy the country. Destroy tho UNI
ted States Steel Corporation and what
becomes of thousands of men and wo-
mon dependent upon it? Precipitate
such panic as we have suggested an
Wali-Strcet and the whole country
would be panic-stricken and our pros
pcrity would come TO an abrupt close
The Times is no pessimist. and we do
not mean to say that any such disaster
as this is probable. But we do say that
the Sherman antitrust law is to-day Z
menace to the enterprise and prosperity
OF the United States. 1t has never done
any good. 1t has been a dead failure.
Il has been on the. statute books Tor
more than ten years, and yec the trusts
have grown in that time moro than in
all the years before put together. But
we say that, while it bias done no good,
1t is capable of doing much harm. it
hangs as a threat over the great in
terests, and If the President should take
the law seriously and proceed under it
against all corporations he would bring
on such a panic and such a disaster as
this country has never know
II seems to us that herein is food for
thought Tor The members OF The VIr-
GINA Constitutional Convention
SCHOOLS IN lnE SOUTHWEST.
Editor of The Times:
r-,rha ta,c.tA., 1.als Nir.,i,, IRE