The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-11
up TO The PEOPLE.
The Law Has Been Ascertained by
the Decision of the Cir
cult Court.
Wisdom of the Statutes May Now
Be Debated in Court Of Pub
lie Opinion.

assistant attorney general, who argued
the Northern Securities case. said: ,
=, THE clear and exhaustive opinion of
Judge Thayer seems to me to leave moth
ing to be- desired in the matter of full
exposition Of the federal law applicable
to the consolidation Of competing inter-
state carriers.
"All interests should welcome such re-
suit. for it seems to me Of first Importance
that the exact meaning Of existing
statutory law should be definitely ascer-
tained., When so ascertained the
question of the wisdom Of the
statutes can be fairly debated in the
greater court Of public opinion. The de-
cision of the circuit court accompl1shes
this purpose. 1t destroys the last legal
device for the suppression of competition,
and shifts the whole question from the
cou1 ts to the people and leaves for their
consideration and ultimate decision the
question whether railway consolidation
under proper regulation Is desirable, or
whether it should be altogether pro-
hibited.
The wild suggestion that this decision
is revolutionary and will disrupt the
American railway system is absurd. 1t
simply reaffirms existing principles and
has no application, whatever to Legitimate
extensions of railway lines, but solely ap-
plies to the suppression of competition by
railway consolidation.
Judge Thayers decision, in effect,
demonstrates the inaccuracy of the
phrase holding company and also shows
that the community of interest plan thro
stock ownership, when it suppresses COM
petition, and promotes monopoly, is un-
lawful.
1T holds in substance that whenever
the control Of, competing interstate car
riers is secured, either by combination
of natural persons or by corporation
which they create, and the motive for
competition has thus been destroyed by
the consequent unity Of interest, the anti
trust law is violated.
1.-The fact that each Of the competing
lines is nominally operated by separate
board of directors is held immaterial, and
the court, disregarding form and looking
to substance, holds that the real policy Of
a railroad is controlled by those who own
the ma jority of it's stock and that such
individual holders in a real sense de-
termine all important corporate acts.
1.-The decision is also Of first Importance
in holding that the mere ownership of
stock in an interstate Weilroad brings the
owner in such direct relation with inter-
state commerce as to subject him to the
plenary powers of the federal government
with respect thereto. Perhaps this hold
ing gives the decision It's greatest import
ance.
THE defendants attorneys contended
that the mere acquisition Of such shares
had either no direct relation in interstate
| commerce, or that. in any event, such re-
laton was indirect, collateral and remote.
They sought to establish an unsound dis
tinction between ownership Of road and
it's operation. This view the court mega
tives and holds that the purchase or
shares OF stock in an interstate railroad
subjects the purchaser to the constitu-
! tional power of the federal government
1.-The Importance of this holding, coming.
| as 1t does upon the heels of the lottery
cases, cannot we'll be overestimated. 1t
| greatly widens thee scope Of federal &C
tIvity. The Constitution remains Nnn@
changed, but the sphere Of faction, to
which it Is applied, Is, by means sof:wholly
exterior forces, greatly widened.
:, when the Constitution was framed
! the only media Of interstate communica-
tion were the erstwhile sailing vessels
and the occasional stage coach which
crossed state lines, but steam and elec-
| tricity have indissolubly bound the states
together by lines of steel, aggregating ir
the matter of railroads alone 100000 miles
In length, and this has produced cen
| tripetal action which has inevitably in
creased the sphere and scope of fedora
activity. In this aspect the lottery case:
and the case just decided easily mark {
| new and most important epoch in the lif'
Of the nation.
! 1.-The lottery cases, which sustained thu
| power of congress to prohibit interstate
traffic when prejudicial to the public wei
fare, and the Northern Securities case
which subjects not only the immediat
operations of every interstate road, bu
its very ownership through stock share
to federal power, are simply inevitable re
suits of this centripetal force. The de
cision makes it doubly necessary to de
termine as matter Of policy the exac
and proper relation between the railways
upon which our prosperity so vitality de
pends, and the state.
"In this connection concluded MI
Beck. 1.-The sagacious and conservativ
suggestion Of Attorney General Knox i
his notable address at Pittsburg, that tn
! antitrust law should be so modified a
to forbid only unreasonable restraints {
| trade, should be borne in mind. The su
preme court in the joint traffic decision
| by a majority of one, so construed tn
| antitrust law as to bring reasonable a
we'll as unreasonable restraints Of trad
within it's prohibition. and thus added I'm
! mensely to the difficulty of an alread
difficult problem. -.-
"The attorney generals view Of the ez
listing law has been fully sustained an
his courageou action fully vindicated, an
| the responsibility must now rest with tt
American people to determine, as legi:
lative and not as a, judicial question, no
far and under what conditions the publ
interest may, If at all, justify such raj
way consultations as are in restraint
| competition. ~;
xxx~-- 1--11r MT, rrRT