The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-13

ettalnod Dy tne tormauon mo oESneIon W
the Northern Securities Company arc, 30
far as the courts are concerned, beside the
mark. Gov. Griggs's plea at St. Louis
regarding the vast investment OF money
that has been made In the Northern Securi-
ties Company and the great development OF
Oriental trade that would probably result
therefrom. seemed a ploidoyer strangely
out Of place in a legal argument. The
question was and Ii simply: Does the
Northern Securities Company offend the
terms Of the Antitrust law?
Are then all holding companies illegalf
Must all the railway mergers that have
taken place in different parts Of the county
in the past six years be declared void and
the whole railroad world be thrown into
chaos2 The reply can only be made that
these transactions must be adjudged sep
arately and that many OF them, manifestly,
do not come within the statute. Thus,
the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific
lines are parallel and competing only in
the most general sense; at least, the Union
Padfics control OF Southern Pacific Is not
by any means such a merger OF parallel
lines as was attempted by the Northern
Securities Company. Many OF these mer-
gers, notably the much-questioned pur-
chase Of the West Shore Railroad by the
New York Central, occurred before the
passage OF the Sherman act. The fact that
the interest that the Pennsylvania road
has acquired in 30 many smaller lines is a
minority interest, not amounting TO actual
CONTROL will. in the opinion Of many
shrewd lawyers, free the Pennsylvania
Railroad from trouble. The general i'm
preston has been since the decision Of the
United States Supreme Court In the Knight
case, commonly known as the Sugar case,
many years ago, that the Sherman law
applies only to railroads, and but in a small
way, il at all, to industrial or manufactur-
ing companies. The Court there held
that the combination of the industrial COM
panies under consideration only related to
the manufacture Of an article and not to
interstate commerce. In the Addyston
Pipe and Steel Company case, however, the
Supreme Court held that where articles
were manufactured under contract for sale
and delivery in another State, the transac-
ton was one Of interstate commerce and
came within the purview Of the Antitrust
act.
All this brings up finally for consideration
the merits Of the Sherman law itself as a mat
ter Of public policy; and all that has hitherto
been said In this article is by way Of en-
phasizing the fact that the repeal Of this
law. or at least the proper amendment OF it,
Is the FIRST duty OF the business world in
this country to-day. The Sherman law
as 1t stands, fortified by these court de-
cisions, erects in our land Governmental
paternalism OF far-reaching and vicious
character Passed by the Congress Of the
United States as a political dare" flung
down by the Republican party to their
Democratic opponents. the Antitrust act
remains on the statute book as one Of the
most atrociously harmful pieces Of leg
islation ever known in a civilized land.
Dictated by the crude and ignorant maxim,
long since abandoned by every intelligent
political economist and thoughtful citizen,
that composition u the life Of trade 1t is
no more in place in the United States to-
day than would be law compelling all the
traffic between New York and Chicago to
sents the attempt to enforce cutthroat
between railroad lines and
perhaps, between industrial concerns, when
the mighty and instructive tendency of
modern business il to diminish such COM
petition In the interests. first Of all. Of the
shippers and consumers themselves. The
Of the West could no more re-
turn to the hateful, jealous and ruinous
methods Of ten years ago than could the
railroad freight cars Of ten years ago carry
to-day's huge tonnage, or the customs and |
Of a former age supplant our own.
Moreover, people are beginning to UNDER |
stand this. They arc beginning TO see
that. in such times as the present, compe- |
tition, instead Of being the life Of trade. |
Is the death Of it-that IL the United States |
Steel Company were not in existence, as
an illustration. steel products would be- |
selling far above their present price and |
the whole steel trade be in its old warning, |
speculative and unstable state. The time |
% ripe for an agitation such as suggested. |
The business men Of our country do not fear,
On the contrary they believe in, some reason. |
able Governmental restraint Of corporate |
and organization. The en-
forced dissolution of such concerns as the |
Master Plumbers Association OF st. Louis, I,
N announced on Saturday. an organization |
founded upon gross cupidity |
md extortion, or OF the Window Glass
Trust, whose vital principle was criminal
contract by the managers of the concern
With their employees, will be hailed with
ielight by everybody: but any such en-
'lavement Of enterprise, degradation OF
initiative and suppression OF
business management as is
ordained In the Sherman Antitrust law
,annot be permitted to exist in our country.
The limitation Of the law proposed by
General Knox himself. in his
amous Pittsburg speech. so that only
restraint OF trade would be
might perhaps answer all de-
ired purposes. But some amendment
Il the law. or the repeal Of the statute al
ogether. Ia necessary II business is TO con-
niue prosperous In our land.
L.