Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-15
IN SUPREME COURT.
The Northern Securities Case
 Heard at Washington.
\ P. MORGAN & O., MANAGERS. "
Knox Reviewed History of Northern Pacific, Saying, "Built With Gov @rnment Money, Its Independ-
 ence Has Been Destroyed"

GmCe Been WASHINGTON Dec. 15. - The su- preme court of the United States be- gan hearing arguments in the case of the Northern Securities company, the Great Northern Railroad company, the Northern Pacific company, James J. Hill, J. Pierpont Morgan. Daniel s. La mont and others versus the United States, coming to this court on appeal from the decision of the circuit court for the district of Minnesota. That de- cision was to the effect that the pur- chase of the greater share of the stock of the two railroad companies consti- tuted a merger and was contrary to the Sherman antitrust law. The case involves the community of interest | principle. t.. The brief of the government in the case was prepared by Attorney General Knox and Assistant Attorney General Day.
 It states that the bill in the case was originally brought by the government | to restrain the violation of the anti trust law by the Securities company 1 in the consolidation of the Northern l Pacific and the great railroads and that the decision of the court below was | favorable to the contention of the Unit ed States.
 1 Attorney General Knox was present with quite an array of assistants from his office, while the opposition also was represented by a .lohg list of distin- guished counsel, including former At torney General Griggs, JohR~ G. John son of Philadelphia, c. V. Bum and i Charles B. Young.
 Great interest has been manifested in the public hearing of this case before the court Wall street awaits the out come with greatest anxiety, and those l interested in the attitude of President Roosevelt's administration toward the great combinations of capital believed by him and the law officers of the gov i ernment to be illegal are watching the result with no less concern.
 John G. Johnson opened for the de fendants in an argument of two hours ! and was followed in the same line by { Charles W. Bum, general counsel for the Northern Pacific railway, who argued for over an hour.
 MT. Bum was followed by Attorney i
 In beginning Mr. Knox outlined the attitude of the government toward the i case, saying that it was ''one of grave concern, based upon it's conviction that a mischievous evasion of the law has been attempted.
 l Tn order that the court might under stand the reasons for this concern be reviewed the principal facts connected I with the organiZa ton and subsequent history of the Northern Pacific compa- ny, its relations to the Great Northern railroad and other facts out of which the questions in this case arise but without extended comment. His state ment of facts in this connection was as follows: '
 First.-That the Northern Pacific rail- road was built under the authority of the United States and in the main with capital furnished by the United States and that the United States intended and attached the condition to its con- tribution that the railroad should be great independent national highway and specified that the object of it's con- strucdon was to promote the public interests.''
 Second.-That by different devices employed during the past ten years the defendants, or some of them, have en- deavored to destroy the independence of the Northern Pacific company and bring it under the domination of the Great Northern company.
 Third.-That the@Northern Securities company is an instrumentality devised by defendants to acquire, hold and ex- ercise control over these two parallel and competing lines of railroads, to de stroy competition between them, to create monopoly of transportation in the section served by them and to de- feat the condition attached by the United States to the franchise and land < grants of the Northern Pacific com pany.
 Continuing, MT. Knox said:
 ''Let us next see what steps were taken to get the Northern Pacific prop erty in such situation as would enable MT. Morgan to. make good his assur- ance to MT. Hill that if he failed to ac- quire the Northern Pacific stock in the manner just described they could work in harmony. A reorganization of the road was effected, and a new company
 
 with power to do so took over theeprop- erty and franchises of the Northern Pacific company.
 By the reorganization agreement J. F. Morgan X Go. were made managers of the reorganization. What is known / as harmony now prevailed between the two roads andy continued as such until 1901, when the two roads made joint purchase of the Chicago, Bur lington and Quincy railroad. This partnership in the ownership of the Burlington was almost immediately followed by the merger of which the government complains"
 Mrs. Roosevelt, wife of the president, was one of the spectators in the United States supreme court while the North ern Securities case was being argued. She was accompanied by Mrs. Knox, wife of the attorney general.