Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-04-18
MERGER SUIT DISCUSSED
Northern Securities Decision is
Sweeping, Says J. W. Griggs.
HIS OPINION or WHAT IT IS
Former Attorney General Says il Affects ih'
Natural Right to Acquire and Hold
Properly.


Properly.
Former Attorney General John W..
Griggs. one Of the counsel for the
Northern Securities company, was in
Reviewed at his home in Paterson, N.
j.. by a New York Herald reporter on
the decision rendered In the merger
suit.
Without saying a word as to his
chances before the highest court it was
evident that the former attorney gen
eral. though his disappointment was
keen at the decision, believes firmly
that the supreme court VIII uphold him.
II maintain" he said, that the ac-
quiescence by the government for nine
teen years in the actual consolidation
Of many parallel and competing lines
Of railroads has given as a practical
construction of the Sherman law that
it does not forbid the natural processes
of consolidation under modern meth
DDS. But the Northern Securities COM
pany, mind you. was organized to pro
mote rather than to restrain competi-
ton, II was its aim to build a great
transcontinental road that could coE-
pete with the Santa Re. Southern Pa
ciiie and other systems.
Il maintain that congress has the
right TO control the use. not the owner
ship, Of property 1t has no business
with tie title of private property. 1t
can tell an expressman how much be
must charge. but cannot forbid him to
sell his wagons or buy as many as he
wants If / own a steamboat on the
Hudson. / must run n prescribed speed.
charge d certain fare, make so many
trips. but what power IS there to stop
my selling that boat to my competitor
or any one else? | can blow it up If !
want to. and that would restrain com
petition equally.
II can give you the whole Northern
Securities situation In a word. An en-
gine driver controls IN engine, a super
"intendent controls the engine driver,
but does not directly control the en-
gine. Tint is tie position we held at
st. Louis. The Securities company ex-
ercises a secondary, not a primary,
power over the railroads.
1--WE all know of many Instances In
which moral power Is exercised by
some financial institution over prop
erty without owning a share of that
property. How are you going to con-
troll every one who has influence? To
say that one person or several persons
cannot acquire stocks In companies
that might restrain competition is to
say that tile power to commit a crime
is equivalent to It's actual commission.
Nobody questions the right of con
gress TO regulate rates. If these com
pauies should use their power to re-
strain trade, congress has a remedy at
hand by compelling them to run u GER
tain number of trains and to charge
certain rates and provide full and just
accommodations.
Gust think what the decision means
to the development of the country,
There is hardly a consolidation posi-
Die that does not touch competition
somewhere. No law can compel rail.
road companies TO compete; hostility or
rivalry is not commanded as a corpo-
rate duty.
I'VE thought the point settled for all
time in the sugar decision. Chief Jus
tice Fuller said In that case: There is
where the supreme court distinguished
between acts which directly restrain
commerce and acts which only indi-
rectly have that effect. There was
nothing in the proofs to indicate any
intention to put a restraint upon trade
or commerce, and the fact that trade
might be indirectly affected was not
enough to entitle complainants to a de
cree"
Mr.. Griggs was asked If he agreed
with one Of the counsel who was quot
ed anonymously as saying that the
closing phrase of the judges order in
the merger case providing for the
transfer of the stock to the present
owners Of the railroads practically
nullifes the whole effect of the deci-
sAon."
II do not see the point" he answer
ed. "sThe decision is sweeping. 1t af
feets the natural right to acquire and
hold property. 1t is applicable to all
consultations of interstate competition
made since the Sherman law was
enacted"
IICAMCNTS IN &c TORN