The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1902-05-15

but solely for the purposes hereinbefore
| stated.
Not Restrain Competitions.
| This defendant was not formed, nor
| did any OF those concerned in it's formal
/ ton, nor any OF those who sold their
| shares Of stock to IL, have any purpose
or Intention To restrain trade or COM
| merce. or to lessen competition between
| said railway companies, or TO monopo-
4 lie traffic i'm any manner whatever; nor
| can any such results follow from the
| formation or operation OF this defen-
| dant. I'm point Of fact since the argani-
| cation Of this defendant, rates on tSe
| defendant railway companies lines, m
| Guiding rates to and from points com
| mon TO both, have voluntarily been so
| reduced as to decrease their earnings
/ by upwards OF a million dollars am
nually. For all interstats commerce
| on the lines of either the defendant rail-
way companies, except traffic beginning
| and ending on their Twn lines, respec-
| lively. the rates are fixed by joint tariffs
| with connecting lines. In respect to all
such traffic neither of the defendant
companies has ever had, or can have,
/ any Independent. rate-maktng power or
| control of traffic or rates. All joint
| tariffs with other companies to or from
points common to the lines of the defen-
| dant railway companies have always
| been, and necessarily must be- the same,
whether the traffic Is carried by one or
| the other Of said companies. The total
| amount Of all Other interstate trafhc,
| that is, traffic between common points
on the two roads, which is not competi-
tive both as TO rates and equally of ser
vice with other carriers having equal
| rate-making power with them. is less
| than per cent OF the total interstate
traffic Of the two companies.
The sale and transfer of property
whether in the form of shares of cor
porate stock or otherwise, has never
been adjudged to be, and is not. in viola
ton of the act of congress OF July .,
| 1890, known as the antitrust act"
This defendant is not a railroad com
| pany, and II has no power to operate or
manage railways, or make or control
rates of transportation nor to monopolize
or restrain traffic OF any kind. So far
| from intending to violate any provision
| of said act of congress, the persons who
were concerned i'm organizing this de-
| PENDANT and those who have sold their
shares to IL, had every reason to believe
| and did believe, that such sales were not
| in any way in contravention of that act
| In common with the general public, they
were aware that during the eleven years
! since the passing of that act, in many
| instances, the stock of a competing rail.
| way company has been acquired by its
| competitor or the shareholders thereof;
without objection from any branch Of
| principal railways doing business through
out the country. This has been done
without objection from any branch OF
| the government OF the United States, and
| has invariably proven beneficial to the
| railway companies concerned and to
the public: and those making sales OF
| stock to this defendant had no reason to
| believe that such sales were open TO any
| legal objection or question Whatever.
Not TO Control Rates.
This defendant was not organized for
the purpose of acquiring a majority Of the
| stock OF either the Great Northern or
| the Northern Pacific company, but merely
| to purchase the stock of those who
wished TO sell, as above stated: and was
| not organized for the purpose of controll-
| ing railway rates In the slightest de-
gree, and has not had and cannot have
| any such effect. The transactions referred
10 in the petition have consisted in the
| organization of lawful corporation, and
/ the purchase Of property by il. All acts
| done in relation to the organization OF
| this defendant and in the conduct OF it's
| business have been expressly authorized
/ by law and have had no effect whatever
TO restrain trade or commerce al 1ong the
| several states or with foreign nations. II
| these lawful transactions should hereafter
| have any effect TO restrain trade or COM
| merce among the several states or with
| foreign nations (Which is hereby denied),
| that effect would be merely indirect, re-
| mote, incidental and collateral. and not
| intended and as nothing compared with the
! great expansion OF the volume OF inter-
/ state and international commerce which
was Intended and which this defendant
| believes is destined to result from the en-
| terprise OF the two railway companies
that eliminated in the purchase OF the
| Burlington stock.
/ And of
| /. The antitrust" act was not in
| tended to prevent or defeat an enterprise.
| in aid of a great competitive interstate
| and international commerce, merely be-
| cause such enterprise may carry with II
the possibility of incidental restraint upon
| some commerce, trifiing both as respects
/ territory and volume.
q Nor was the act intended to limit
| the power of the several states to create
corporations, define their purposes, nix
the amount of their capital, and deter
mine who may buy, own and sell their
1 stock.
| 3. Otherwise construed, the act would
| be unconstitutional, because:
The power to regulate commerce with
! foreign nations and among the states
| does not give congress the power to reg
| ulate any of the matters above mentioned
in respect TO corporations created by the
| states: and because
4
| property without due process OF law, by
| taking from them the right to sell it, as
| their interest may suggest
| There Is a defect of necessary parties
| defendant, because, as already set forth.
/ the persons who made sales of stock of
/ the said railway companies TO this de-
| PENDANT were numerous, exceeding more
| than 1900 in number and few of them
had any connection whatever in the plan
aing or forming OF this defendant and in
| their absence from this litigation no de-
! cree can be made affecting their rights
| in the premises
| And this defendant denies all and all
/ manner OF unlawful combination and
| confederacy wherewith II is by the said
| petition charged. without this, that II
/ there Is any other matter, cause or thing
/ in the petition contained material or nec-
essary for this defendant to make answer
| unto, and not herein or hereby well and
| sufficiently answered confessed, trav-
| ersed, and avoided or denied, the same Ia
! not true to the knowledge or belief OF this
| defendant: all of which matters and
things this defendant is ready and will
| ing TO aver, maintain and prove as this
| honorable court shall direct. and humbly
| prays to be hence dismissed with it's rea-
\ sonable costs and charges in this behalf
most wrongfully sustained
! The defendant. in answer to the purel,
| technical portion OF the plaintiffs petit
ton, admits the formal facts set up con
| corning the organization OF the Northern
Pacific and Great Northern Railway com
panies and the territory which thos,
| companies cover. The defendant admits
| it's formation under the laws of tn,
| state OF New Jersey but denies the al