The Saint Paul globe., 1904-10-24
NOT "A GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE
From the N. Y. Times.

the organization of the Northern Securi-
ties company. The primary purpose of
] ITS organizers was to enable them to pro-
! tect their properties against speculative
! stock raids and. thus sheltered. to carry
| out their plans for providing great ave-
nue. of transportatio between the areas
OF production In this country. and the
new markets for our -four. grain. cotton
IRON and manufacturers which it was
their ambition to create and open in the
No freight or passenger rate was raised
i no trains discontinued, no community in
| Jured. No government subsidy was de-
manded, no favor asked; Why, did the
| president of the United States direct his
against the Northern Securities com
! pany? 1t had been organized in violation
/ OF the laW-that everybody must admit
for the supreme court has said SO. But
| Who suggested to the president the fling
| OF the petition? Was it that great law
| Yer. his secretary of war, Mr.. Eiihu Root?
Was it that wise judge of administration
| policy, the secretary of state, Mr.. John
Hay? Neither of these men was advised
/ torney of foreign railroad company, an
i active rival with the transcontnental
roads of the United States for the trade
| with China and Japan, who. as we are in
formed, first advised Mr. Roosevelt that
/ the organizers of the Northern Securities
! company were engaged in a criminal con-
4 Splracy IN violation of the Sherman anti
| trust law. 1t was on this information
/ that the president directed the attorney
] general to institute a preliminary inquiry,
and If warrant for a proceeding were
! round to cause one to be begun at once.
| IhlS is the history of the case as it has
| been stated to u.s. If there are errors in
| the statement we will cheerfully correct
! them. The supreme court in due course
| OF protracted litigation, declared by
| majority of one that since the Northern
! Securities company possessed the power
| to do injury If it was so disposed it was.
| under the antitrust act, an unlawful
/ combination in restraint of trade and must
be dissolved. That the company had in
| fact done harm to no community and no
man was, the court said. irrelevant; the
possession of the power to restrain trade
was. within the meaning of the law, the
/ same thing as actual restraint.
/ Now 1t is upon this single achievement
| that Mr.. Roosevelt's reputation as de-
| stroyer of the trusts rests today. But
! there is the beef trust, against which
suit was brought on May 10, 1902. There
/ is an Injunction against the beef trust.
| to be sure, but it is an Injunction which
! merely commands Swift & Co. and their
associates not to violate the law. Has
their business been interfered with? The
/ Times was Informed early in the present
! year that the beef trust had made its
! peace with the administration However
| that may be, it is evident to all the world
| that the business of the beef, trust has
| not been seriously interfered with by the
/ injunction or by the governments suit.
| The testimony in the interstate COM
merce inquiry throws a good deal of light
! on that subject 1t seems to lis that an
|
busting" exploits leads to the belief that
! he is not SO formidable as he seems. To
| the great trusts and combinations which
/ have been contributing to his campaign
| fund he is not formidable at all They
| are not longer afraid of him, they no
longer oppose him. They support him,
and We think. with or without his knowl
| edge and consent, they shave taken him
/ into their camp. 1t is the old Republican
! story retold The favored corporations
are in control. so far as control is essen
flol fhQ of flaAs,- io1
! iieges. Have We in this country gov
ernment of the people, for the people,
! and by the people? Or is it a government
OF class, of privileges, of favored and pro-
] tected interests?
/ Where do these conditions lead? How
| long will they continue? Where they
| lead, history tells US. The tyrannies and
| extortionS of the beef trust in respect to
the merchants and shippers using its
private car lines. as laid bare in the inter
/ state commerce proceeding, constitute
case that is not only typical but Is fresh
est in the public memory. The trust. as
was made evident by the testimony of
witnesses, holds and uses the power to
! build UP customers business or to de-
stroy it. If protesting victim attempts
/ to escape from It's clutches or resist Its
| exactions, he is ruined by higher charges
and the giving of rebates to his rivals.
The history OF the Standard Oil company
! and of the Carnegie Steel company is re-
\
mission in the private car line case. The
! common people of France overthrew their
/ government and cut off the head of their
| king when they could no longer bear the
merciless exactions of the nobility and
1 the clergy, at that time the privileged
classes of France. Our trusts and com
/ binations lack patents of nobility, but in
|What other respect do they differ from
| the French mobiles who lived in luxury
| and splendor upon tax-moneys squeezed
/ out of the pockets of a starving peasant
| rYY The DoODiQ OF the United States
/ are in no danger of starving, to be sure,
! but the greatest of the French mobiles of
| the old regime, the king himself, would
! listen in wonder and incredulity to the
history of the net profit of $41, ,00e, 900
made by Mr.. Andrew Carnegie's steel
| company in one year. through the exer-
| else of the privilege conferred upon him
! by a Republican tariff to fix prices without
| fear of foreign competition. A French
| duke or marquis of the ante Revolutionary
| time was a pretty puny extortioner COM
pared with our great capitalistic combi-
! nations under the regime of a high tariff
| and special privilege.
So we are already come upon the time
/ when a special privilege creates that in
equality of condition which, in the history
| of other countries, has been cured by
! revolution. 1t will be cured by revolu-
stion here, a peaceful revolution through
1 the use of the ballot but nevertheless 1t
may be a costly one. There is no possible
source of the great fortunes that have
| been accumulated in this country through
| government favor and privilege. The
people know about them, the people are
! much given to discussing them. In the
| orderly course of natural law and evolu-
| ton, the instruments by which great So
| cial and political changes are brought
| about begin their work automatically
| and in the ripeness of time. The
| people of the country are coming to
| understand what special privilege means.
More than that they are coming to I'M
/ derstand that it is the Republican par
| ty that -coIfers special privilege, that it is
! through the Republican party that the
! government has been taken out of the
hands of the people.
! Mr.. Roosevelt may be elected president.
4 aSSa liant of trusts and combinations dur
| ing his term as an elected chief maglS-
/ trate The trusts think he will not as
/ sail them, the benefciaries of the Ding
lev tariff have no fear that during his
! incumbency of the Office the schedules
that yield them rich annual harvest
will be modified. If there be no change
/ in the Republican administrative and leg
| islative plan, if Mr.. Roosevelt and his
| i4stand pat''-and they are pledged TO ad-
here to it--then the year 1908 may prove
| to be one of grave political Importance;
! it may mark an epoch in the economic de-
| yelopment of the country. If we would
| picture to ourselves what it is that i'm
| bends what may be the origin and ma
| ture of the coming change, and with what
forces the regime Of special privilege Is
| TO be brought to an end we need go no
| further back than to the campaigns OF
/ 1895 and 1900.