The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-28
THE MERGER-PRO AND CON

= Brooklyn Eage-Under other circumstances
Wall street would not have been taken by.
surprise. From one source: or another oppos1-
ton was to be anticipated. 1t was scarcely
to be expected from federal source in view
of what the state Of Minnesota is attempting
to do. The United States attorney general is
backed by the president. 1t would be strange,
therefore, If Wall street did not take alarm.
if stocks did not tumble, If investors did not
manifest a disposition to run to cover. Not
millions, but billions, are involved. IT the
Northern Securities company can, so to speak,
be thrown out Of court hundreds Of other
colossal corporations will plainly see the
handwriting on the wall. Violations Of the
antitrust law are now a crime instead OF
misdemeanor. It's provisions can be converted
into a drag net should the federal action
result in victory for the government.
AS matter of fact, enforcement would mean
ruin almost universal -..,st
Wall Street Journal-The stock most direct
ly affected by the action of President Roose-
Welt is obviously Northern Securities. Whether
the suit is decided way or the other may
not be Of vital Importance to Great North
ern or Northern Pacific in the sense Of affect
ing earning capacity, or the value Of their
respective stocks. Northern Securities stock,
however. must stand or fall by the decision
reached. This means that trading in that
stock will probably fall to a minimum, as
people Will not be disposed to. buy it on an
uncertainty
Philadelphia Record-Now comes Attorney
General Knox with the declaration that in
obedience to the views of President Roosevelt
and in accordance with his own opinion Of
the law he will proceed against the Securities
company as volator Of the antitrust act
of congress, Thus the colossal combination
will be assailed on two sides-by the federal
government and by Minnesota-on two differ
ent lines OF attack. The most serious COM
plant against the department Of justice is
that by more prompt action 1t might have
hindered the completion Of this merger, and
that It would not be easy to restore the
former situation and repair the losses Of
conf1ding investors should the suit result adj
versely to the Securities company.
fulness of the Northern Securities
company is before the supreme court
and there it should remain until prop
erly adjudlcated. That the attorney general
should proceed against it arbitrarily and with
out notice Of any kind Is without SUFFICIENT
warrant or precedent. 1t is an act which can
noe fail to create the most widespread dig
quietude, and seriously affect the gaEeral
stability of business.
That President Roosevelt is actuated by the
most unselfish motives and is moving in the
matter with solicitude solely for the public
welfare is without question, for he is as
well aware as any one can be of its in
evitable effect upon party interest and per-
sona1 ambition alike. We believe that a seri-
Gus mistake has been made somewhere, for
the Northern Securities company is the off,
spring of the ablest legal talent and conserya-
tive business sense that exist in the United
States. But as we have said, the question OF
it's legal merits is before the supreme court.
New York Post-In short, the republicans
as the party in power. cannot afford to go into
the campaign next fall with the imputation Of
favoring these combinations, or of neglecting
any means Of suppressing or holding them
In check Still less can they afford to go into
I the presidential campaign, two years hence
with such suspicious resting upon them.
What with their monstrous tariff schedules,
their murder of reciprocity. and their ship
subsidy bills, they will have sufficient load
| to carry without this additional charge Thus
politics is at the bottom of the suit which
the attorney general has announced his in
tention to begin, but it is politics in the wide
sense of the nations purpose to find out
where it stands in reference to these huge
aggregations of capital, which seem to menace
the orderly and customary progress OF indus
try and social growth.