The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-11
Spirit of the Press.
NORTHERN SECURITIES CASE.

NOLl EEt(N SECURITIES CASE.
Philadelphia Public Ledger.
The decision of the United States Cir
cult court at st. Paul practically dis
solving the merger of the Northern Pa
cffc ana the Great Northern Railway
systems, and enjoining the holding COM
pany, the Northern Securities, which was
formed for the purpose of exercising abb
solute control of these two trans-con-
tinental lines, FROM exercising its pow
ers under its charter, is one of the most
important cases handed down in a de-
cade. The results of this decision. if it
be upheld by the Supreme Court, to which
it is said an appeal will be taken, Will
| be so momentous that wholesale consOl
| dation will be checked or sensibly modi-
| fed
The tendency toward combination and
toward community of interests has seem
ed so inevitable. or, at any rate, it has
proceeded of late years with so great
! rapidity, and on so large a scale in
| the whole field of industry and notably in
the management and control of railroads
that the people had got into the habit
of thinking that nothing could stay the
movement even when the specific acts
were in clear violation, not only of State
rect and palpable violation of the Sher-
man Anti Trust law passed in $780, and
this feeling of helpIessness has seemed
to give force to the statement now heard
on every hand that the era of competi-
! ton has irrevocably passed, and that the
old theories of economies have become
completely outworn.
The decision in the Northern Securities
49,
powerful remedy in it's hands which will,
judging by the outcome of this case, en-
able the Attorney General to check lille
gal combinations, at least not only rail
road mergers, but any combination which
is engaged in Interstate Commerce or
which exercises a monopolstic or other
restraint on Interstate trade
The Sherman Anti Trust law, which is
one of the most sweeping acts ever
passed by Congress, says:
Every contract combination in the
form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy,
in restraint of trade or commerce among
the several States or with foreign ma
tons, is hereby declared illegal"
Another section of this broad act de-
clares it to be illegal not only to monopo-
lie, but to attempt to monopolize any
part of the trade among the several
States. This sweeping law has hitherto
amounted to little in the prevention Of
combination, and the decision in this
case seems to show that the failure of
the Sherman law to accomplish anything
has been due to the failure of the Gov
eminent to take vigorous action. The
present decision is, therefore, a great
victory for President Roosevelt in his
warfare on illegal trusts and in an es-
pecial manner a striking triumph for
Assistant Attorney General Beck, of this
city, who has almost single-handed con-
Quoted this crucial case to a successful
conclusion, with an ability and vigor
that has ELECTED general admiration
The Northern Securities Company is
| the holding company for two parallel and
| competing lines, the Northern Pacific and
| the Great Northern. If the merger is
| Illegal on the grounds stated in the COM
| plant and in the decree handed down,
| that the merger destroyed competition
| or that at any rate, whether there was
| or was not any actual interference with
competition the merger took away any
! motive which the two companies there
| tofore had to compete, and, moreover,
gave the merged company the power TO
| exercise monopoly and to Cypress TIE
people--it is evident that there is 10
telling where the trust prosecutions will
stop. There are scores of important cor
porations, perhaps hundreds that will be
subject to prosecutions; and with the
| new Department of Commerce actively
| investigating corporations, the Attorney
| General in hot pursuit, under instruc-
tions from the President, and acting
under the Sherman Antitrust law and
the Elkins Rebate law, the gross abuses
and criminal, oppressive practices of
combinations seem likely to be greatly
| checked at least.