The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1903-04-03
ANTITRUST Law GOOD
Legislation Passed by Congress
Has Long Teeth.
The Great Trusts are Souirmin1
Under the Enforcement OF
New Legislation.

ln the light of the present conflict be-
tween Hill and Hartman. the ahsorn-
tion OF all the railroads into one s.com.
munlty OF interest" takes on the asnect
Oh ghastly Joke, says the Oregonian.
mere Is the Union Pacific proposing by
improvements IN rOadbed and rolling
STOCK TO reduce the time between New
YORK and San Francisco to 31 days.
Here ls MIR. Hill, while resting from hia
Efforts to wrest control of the govern
ment transport business from San Fran.
cisco and transfer it to Seattle. now en-
deavorlng by low grain rates to
monOpoize the foOdstuff carriage from
the Pacific coast to Asia
The dimensions of this engagement
are such as to put all other exhibits in
competition to the blush. Hartman
proposes to tunnel the Sierras and make
the line from Omaha to San Franciaco
equal in rOadbed, grade and puuipment
to the best trunk line between New York
and Chicago. Hill is building mammoth
steamships and buying costly railroad
connections east and terminals wpat so
as to be hooked up for a winning fight.
1t Is a battle OF giants Never before has
the railroad world known what competi-
ton really is. 1t RACES all along the
line, from the bitter clashes in Wall
street to the docks of San Francisco.
Portland and Seattle. Never before
have railroads been equipped for fight
ing on this colossal and sanpuinarv
scale. Here is fight for your money.
Competition is not dead.
All OF which may remind us that there
are many other influences in operation
which will tend to modify or reverse the
popular lear concerning trusts The
well ascertained injurious tendencies and
positive acts of the trusts can neither be
denied nor explained away. But the
CONSCIOUSNESS that they are to be re-
strained by law will very materially
alter the popular view Of their offenses.
One corporation is not necessarily worse
than another merely because it is larger.
One railroad is not necessarily more
lnquitOus than another merely because
1t Is longer. The moral quality of an
action is not conditioned upon whether
it is performed by an individual. a
partnership or corporation. Congress
has passed lot of anti trust laws They
will be enforced. The courts, moreover.
are establishing precedents against mo.
nopOly every day. The effect of all
these things cannot be disregarded.
They can only tend to allay popular re-
sentiment against the trusts.
All that is needed, in short, to let ali
the gas out OF the big balloon OF anti
monopoly and government ownership
OF everything from railroads and coal
mines down to street cars is due enforce
ment OF righteous laws in protection of
the public interest. The stupendous
fabric OF demand for government owner
ship OF the anthracite properties iR
Pennsylvania has tumbled down az in a
night before the report of the strike com
mission, with its demonstration that
Justice can be had under existing equip
ment OF Jurisprudence. Wherever CITY
councils are brave aud honest enough to
exact from car lines the cOmmunity's
just due for the use of the public streets,
nobody will seriously think of taking
them over to municipal ownership.
Whenever railroad mergers pursue their
purposes by betterments, lower rates
and higher wages, government control
as a political doctrine will inevitably
laDguish.
Let us pay just tribute here to the
grand old man of modern philosophy,
who long ago saw all these things as in
vision. The integratiOn of social
institutions was as clear to Herbert
Spencer as the kingdom of God was to
Jesus OF Nazareth. Ia his books he has
shown US how the merging OF capital on
one hand and labor on the other bears
us continually on toward the socialstic
regime which must strike the death knelI
of progress. But, he said, we can pre-
vent this, and our remedy is education.
In it's broad sense, therefore, education
is doing its work. That is, we are learn
ing how to guard ourselves against the
eocialistic danger. We are arming the
Hills and Harrimans for their Titanic
battles; we are framing laws and elect
ing ROOsevelts and KnOxes to enforce
them, and we are widening the scope Of
municipal charters to meet the new and
unfamiliar needs. Every offense against
the general good finds society at it's first
preparation without law for it; but it
will not be long till penalties are framed
exactly to fit the case. Society as q
whole lags little way behind the giants
in the industrial field; but it keeps on
coming with sure and steady step.