Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1902-09-12


ceedings sof;instit6tsd are now pending
and must be. dressed to a final co.c;u.
sion without regard to the results Of
this campaign. My 5Wishzor yours as
to the result of the litigation will have
no weight withsthe Judgment of the
courts before whum these cases must
come; and l, am fully convinced that
our courts will decide them with the
same impartial integrity and intelli.
gence that has always characterized
the American Judiciary.
SENATE RESOLUTIONS ARE
FoRGoTTEN~BY GOVERNOR.
Governor Van SAINT did his duty in
calling upon the attorney general to
enforce the law against the consolida.
ton of the Northern Pacific and Great
Northern, but there he stopped. The
state senate of Minnesota, during the
extra session of 1902, passed the fol
lowing resolution:
Resolved, That. the attorney gen.
eral be and he is hereby requested to
investigate the alleged consolidation
Of the stock of the Duluth and Iron
Range and the Duluth, Missabe and
Northern Railway companies. and if he
finds that practical consolidation CT
such companies has been accomplished
by the concentration into a single cor.
poration of majority of the capital
stock thereof, that he at once institute
legal proceedings to prevent further
violation of the laws of this state.''
Why has not this resolution been
obeyed? In Governor Van SAINTS ex-
tended acceptance speech on July he
absolutely neglected to touch upon this
point.
The Iron Range roads were merged
by the United States Steel trust in
February, 1901, sixty days after Gov.
ernOr Van SAINTS Inauguration, and
nine months before the attempt to
merge the Northern coast lines. If the
present state administration is ect:.
tied to reelection because it brc::"!lt
suit to forbid the consolidation of the
coast lines, what does it deserve for
ignoring the merging of the Iron Range
railroads, which are wholly within the
state of Minnesota and are the original
merger offenders?
STATES POWER PRosTiTUTED
TO USE OFFICIATING FACTIONS.
have perhaps no right to question
the governors good faith. l am Ger.
tainly not inclined to do so. but the
personnel of his advisers, who Were
closely identified with. other competing
railroad interests, gives color to the
claim that the power of the great state
OF. MINNESOTA was at least permitted to
serve thexpurposes of. one or a parcel
of centending factions.
The Democratic platform pledges it's
| candidate and the party to the enforce,
ment of ,the present statutes against
consolidation, and that il eysry case,
| and if. my nomination shall be ratified
at the polls this fall pledge myself to
carry out the instructions ofethe party
/ in that regard.
The Bringing of suits to prevent the
merging of railroads, however, is a
small part of the duties of our officials
in dealing with the great transporta-
tion companies, for although no ques-
tion of the consolidation of parallel
and competing lines had arisen under
the law forbfdding the same. it was
yet found that the state must under
take to regulate these immense and
| natural monopolies, both as to their
charges and methods of business, and
for that purpose the railroad and ware
house commission of this state was
| created, and, in the nation at large,
the interstate commerce commission
with much less power unfortunately
was created by congress.
STATES NEED is GOOD AND
INTELLIGENT MEN IN POWER.
Step by step, and through the deci:
sions of an upright and fearless ju-
dietary, the principles have been estab:
IHsheg and srecognize tipon W len this
right to regulate rests. The important