The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1903-05-01
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The Attorney Generals view G
the existing trust law has been full
, Sustained by an allie court and ma
, be Endorsed by the highest tribuna
| in the country. According to hi
|, assistant Mr.. Beck, the Iecen lotter,
cases and the merger case ''easil,
mark new and most importan
epoch in the life of tho nation.
WHAT are to he the characteristic:
of that epoch2
Senator Cullom already sees with
his minds eye the disappearance OF
great combinations and the renas-
cence of the small industry. He
believes that the government 3
victory in the Securities Company s
case is victory for the independ-
ent manufacturer, the struggling
merchant and the weaker corpora
ton. President Williams of the
Seaboard Air Line welcomes the de-
cisions as one of the brightest pro-
misses to railroad interests and the
general business of the country
could have received. 1t should be
acceptable to all, he thinks, except
those comparatively few trust pro-
motors whose ambitious and
anti-social schemes are directly
hindered by it. These expressions,
it must be admitted. are not at all
peculiar.
But the persons who imagine that
the knell of combinations has been
sounded overlook some very i'm
portant facts. The courts construe
existing law and the executive is
bound to enforce it as thus constru-
ed, but the authority which makes
statutes can unmake or substantially
modify them. If the Sherman act
means what the Circuit Court in the
merger suit says it means that act
will be overhauled and amended.
Congress must be reckoned with as
a factor in the situation.
The very man whose "victory"
is being celebrated by many people
has criticised and condemned the
Sherman law. In his famous Pitts
burg address Mr.. Knox pointed
out the injustice and futility of the
prohibition of reasonable and harm
less restraint of competition, and
expressly recommended that the
Sherman act be 80 modified as to:
forbid only unreasonable restraint Of
trade. We're such e distinction as
this recognized by the federal anti
trust law, the Securities Company,
it is certain and manifest, would
have to be pronounced legal since no
injurious restraint of trade has been
proved against it.
Assistant Attorney General Beck,
it is interesting to note winds up an
enthusiastic review of the merger
decision with the sober remark-in
a minor key-that the suggestion of
his chief assumes special Importance
at this juncture. The Supreme
Court he says by bare majority of
one, so construed the trust law as to
bring reasonable as we'll as un-
reasonable restraints Of trade within
is inhibition and thus added i'm.
nensely to the difficulties of an al
'eady difficult position. 1.-THE re-
possibility must now rest with the
American people, Mr.. Beck con-
,ludes, ito determine, as a legisla-
i've and not as a judicial question,
low far and under what conditions
he public interest may, if at all
Justify such railway consultations
g are in restraint of competition. "
appears, then that the "victory"
so great that the Department of
Justice itself is alarmed over it's
ecessary consequences and advises
be people to get rid Of the PROVISION
law which has enabled the gov
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