The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-15
KNOX SUMS UP
 SECURITIES CASE
The Two Great Lines Are
 Parallel and Competing
RESTRAINT ON COMMERCE
It is Absurd to Assert, Says He, That the Roads Will Continue to Com pete With Each Other After
 Merger.

Washington, December 14-The brief of the government in the case of the North ern Securities company and others vs. the United States on appeal from the de- cision of the circuit court of the United States for the district of Minnesota was filed in the supreme court of the United States today The document was pre- pared by Attorney General Knox and As- sstant General Day, and covers 1SO printed pages.
 After stating that the bill in the case was originally brought by the govern ment to restrain the violation of the antitrust law by the Securities company in the consolidation of the Northern Pa cific and the Great Northern railroads, and that the decision of the court below was favorable to the contention of the United States, the brief enters into the following specifications as to the req sons for the actions:
 l l. The lines of railways operated by the defendants, the Great Northern Rail- road company and the Northern Pacific Railroad company are parallel and com petins.
 g. That the combinations is in restraint of interstate commerce and monopoly.
 Attorney Generals Summary.
 The attorney generals own summary of the result is as follows: ITO sum up the result of the aforementioned eX- changes of Great Northern and Northern Pacific stock for the stock of the Securl- ties company, the latter company on De cember II, 1901 had acquired and paid for 990 000 shares in round figures (of | s.fA A,lr fha fnta al stock of that company consisting of 1,25O,- poo shares, of which 1,220,0O0 had been | issued, and by January 1, 1902, the Securi- l ties company had acquired virtually all of the common stock of the Northern Pa l ciflc), the preferred stock was retired on that date the resolution to retire it hay ing been passed on the preceding Novem- ber it's answer to the bill admitting that 1t held 1, ,50O GOO Northern Pacific shares out of a total of 1,550,000.
 "The final result of these transactions was that one and the same set of men, MT. Hill and MT. Morgan and their as- soclates became vested with absolute power of control over two parallel and competing systems of interstate railway. In place of two distinct sets of stock holders with rival and competing inter- ests there has been substituted by means of interchange of stocks the one set of stockholders with common and non-com- l petitive interests.
 Community of Interests.
 Thus, identically the same persons who controlled the Great Northern and North ern Pacific before the securities company came into possession of a majority Of l their shares, control them now, only now 1 these persons have a common interest-'a community of interest-in the earnings of both roads, while formerly the interests l of the two sets of persons-the two sets of stockholders-were, in most respects, divergent and competitive.
 Ut borders on absurdity to say that l railway corporations which under nor- nal conditions are naturally competitors for traffic, will continue to compete in any sense after both become subject to l the same source of control. It is not in l the interest of the stockholders of the Se- curities company, that one of their rail- ways should prosper at the expense of the other more effective method of combining interests for suppressing con- petition between rival and naturally com peting business corporations. it would hardly be possible to conceive"
 Questions of Law.
 The questions of law growing out of the statement of facts are presented as follows:
 T. Has a combination been accom- l plished by means of the Securities com pany in violation of the act entitled An act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies, here after called the antitrust act?
 '2. Have the defendants monopolized or attempted to monopolze any part of the 1 interstate or foreign commerce of the United States in violation of the anti | trust act?
 a. Was the relief granted by the cir cult court authorized by law?"
 The government maintains that each of these questions should be answered in the affirmative.
 Mr. Bum Speaks.
 S. W. Bum spoke especially for the 1 Northern Pacific.
 MT. Bum declared that the parallel tel egraph lines of the country stand on the | same footing as parallel railway lines as it is common knowledge that nearly all the telegraph lines of the country have come into the control of two companies. l Continuing he said;
 Tn the same way you have got to hold that the acquisition of parallel steamboat lines is a restraint on interstate com merce'
 He contended that there had been no consolidation, but said that if there had been. it would not be in restraint of trade.
 Mir. Bum was followed by Attorney l General Knox for the United States.
 The court was within three-quarters of an hour of the time for adjournment when he began his address, and he was able to deliver only a portion of his argument In beginning. MT. Knox re- viewed the principal facts connected with the organization, and subsequent history of the Northern Pacific company; it's re- lations to the Great Northern railroad, and other facts. He stated that the Northern Pacific railroad was built under the authority of the United States and in the main with capital furnished by the United States, and the United States intended and attached the condition to it's contribution, that the railroad should be a great national highway, and stated