Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1903-04-08

'"c prosecution OF ~ SUITS against
the principal railroads Of the middle
west, restraining them by injunction
from further violations of either ot
the laws in question.
About the same time the case
against the Northern Securities conn
pany was initiated. This WAS IA cor
poration organized under the laws OF
the state of New Jersey with cap
ital of i0o.000,00O. the alleged pur-
pose being tn control the Great
Northern and the Northern Pacific
rnilfoad companies, two parallel aud
competing lines extending across the
northern tier of states from the Mis-
siSsippi river To the Pacific ocean.
Whatever the purpose its conSumma-
ton would have resulted in the con-
troll OF the two great railway systems
upon which the people OF the north
western states were so largely de-
pendent for their supplies and To get
their products to market being pruc-
ticallN merged into the New Jersey
corporation. The proposition jhat
these independent systems az rail-
roads should he merged under "a
single control alarmed the people ot
the states concerned lest they I've
subjected to what they deemed
monopoly of Interstate trans porta.
tion and the suppression of competi.
ton. The governors OF the states
most deeply affected held meeting
to consider how Ia prevent the
merger becoming effective and pass ca
resolutions calling upon the national
government to enforce the antitrust
laws against the alleged Combina-
ton. When these resolutions were
referred to the attorney general for
consideration and advice. he report ed
that in his opinion the Northern Sc
curities company and it's control ~
! the railroads mentioned was a com.
! bination in restraint OF trade and
was attempting monopoly in viola
! tion of the national antitrust law.
| Thereupon suit in equity. which is
now pending. was begun by The gov
eminent To test the validity of this
transaction under the Sherman law.
At nearly the same time the dis
closures respecting the secret rebates
enjoyed by the great packing house
companies. coupled with the very
high price of meats led the attorney
general to direct an Investigation into
the methods of the so-callcd beef
trust. The result was that he filed
bills for in junction against six OF the
principal packing house companies,
| and restrained them from combining
and agreeing upon prices at which
they would sell their products in
states other than those in which
/ h.i r,I ia,
ket. Writs of Injunction were issued
accordingly, and since then. after full
argument. the United States circuit
court has made the injunction per-
petual.
The cotton interests of the south,
including growers, buyers and ship
! pcrs. made complaint that they were
suffering great injury in their bust
ness from The methods of the south
ern railroads in the handling and
transportation Of cotton. They al
legged that these railroads. by COM
bincd action under pooling ar
rangcment to support their rate
schedules. had denied to the shippers
the right to elect over what roads
| their commodities should he shipped.
and that by dividing upon fixed
basis the cotton crop Of the south
all inducement to compete in rates
| for the transportation thereof was
eliminated. Proceedings were insti-
tuted by the attorney general under
the antitrust law. which resulted in
! the destruction Of the pool and in
rest oring to the growers and ship
pcrs of the south the right 10 ship
their products over any road they
elected. thus removing the restraint
upon the freedom I commerce.
The above is n brief outline Of the
most important steps, Legislative and
| administrative. taken during the past
| IS months i'm the direction of solving,
so far as at present IL seems practic-
able by national legislation or adj
ministration To solve. what we call
the trust problem. They represent
sum OF very substantial achievement.
! Not only Is the Legislation recently
enacted effective, but in my Judgment
n was impracticablc 10 attempt
more. Nothing Of value is 10 he ex-
| peetcd from ceaseless agitation for
radical and extreme legislation.
Many of the alleged remedies advo-
Gated are Of the unplcasanfly drastic
| type which seeks To destroy the dis
ease by killing the patient. Others
are so obviously futile that il Is
somewhat difficult 30 treat them
seriously or MS being advanced in
! good faith. High among The latter
I place the effort to reach the trust
question by means OF the tariff. You
can Of course. put an end 10 the
/ prosperity Of the trusts by putting
On end 30 the prosperity Of the ma
ton: but the price for such action
seems high. The alternative is 10 do
exactly what has been done during
the life Of the congress which has
lust cIosed-tbat is. 10 endeavor. not
10 destroy corporations. but to regu-