Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-03-17
MERGER ILLEGAL
SUPREME COURT HANDS DOWN
ITS DECISION.
Opinion of the Circuit Court of Min.
ncsota CphrId---Justicc Harlan
says No Device Could Certainly
More Effectively Come Within
Prohibition of Sherman Law.

ION OF the United States supreme court
involving the merger of the Northern
Pacific and Great Northern COMPANIES
was handed down this morning and is
in favor of the government The opin-
ion was read by Justice Harlan. The
opinion of the circuit court for the
district of Minnesota was affirmed.
Justice Harlan said that in the mer-
ger OF the two roads the stock holders
disappeared and reappeared in the Sc
curities Company, the two thus hecom-
ing practically consolidated in "a hold
ing company, the principal object be-
ing to prevent competition.
mo scheme or device could certain
ly more effectively come within the
prohibition of the antitrust law, and
it is within the meaning of the act, a
trust
The case has attracted greater atten-
ton than any other suit before the
court since the first insular cases were
decided and has been regarded by
bench and bar as equal in Importance
with those cases and with the income
tax case.
OJCNs vi SUu.
The suit was instituted by the Unit
ed States against the Northern Securi-
ties company and the two railroad
companies, the Northern Pacific and
the Great Northern, and their leading
stockholders for the purpose of dissolv-
ing the merger of the two roads which
the United States declared had been
fnrr,,a,d INV Tho ~ L.1
company, the Northern Securities COM
pany.
The consolidation was claimed to be
in violation of the Sherman anti trust
law. 1t was claimed on behalf of the
government that this consolidation
was in effect a pool created to promote
the interests, not of one system at the
expense of the other, but of both at
the expense of the public.
The railroads claimed that the trans
fer of the stock of the two companies
to the securities company was in the
nature of a sale perfectly legitimate.
The contentious of the securities
company We're reviewed by Justice
H arlan, who said they had received
full attention. He quoted the various
opinions involving the trust question,
saying that from them it is to be gath
cred that all contracts in restraint of
trade, reasonable or unreasonable. are
prohibited by the Sherman law, and
congress has the power to establish
such relations as are laid down IN that
law. Congress had power. in other
words, to encat the statute.
Justice Harlan said that the conten-
ton that the law interfered with the
rights of individual states by which
the companies are incorporated was
not well founded. In such cases he
said the authority of congress is SUI.
preme.
Rights of Stock holders.
He also declared it to he unnecessary
to determine the right of the owners
of railroad stock to sell the property
nor was it true that the right of the
securities company to own and hold
railroads is the only question involved
Such contentious are wide of the mark
mere men of straw. All that the
government complains of is the exist
ence of corporation to repress COM
MERGE and is not concerned with the
other points.
Justice Harlan said that in this day
there should be no doubt of the power
of congress to control interstate COM
merce. The prior trust cases We're in
support of THAT contention. Whether
free and unrestrained combination was
wise, he said, was an economic ques-
a.. IL.
concern itself
He asserted the power of congress
over interstate commerce to be as com
plete as the power of state over do
nestle commerce.
Coming to the plea of the railroads
that the antitrust law should be de-
clared unconstitutional, he said that
the court could not see it's way to that
end
If he went on, 1.-The securities
company's contentious are sound, why
not all the railroads of the United
States enter into a cOmbinati ton and by
the device of holding company cor
poration control rates throughout the
country"
Justice Harlan also discussed the
predictions Of financial disaster from
the enforcement of the anti trust law,
but discouraged them. saying they were
unusual under such circumstances and
need not he realized.
Justice Harlan declared that the
only object of the merger was to pre-
vent competition. j. Pierpont Nor
gan. one of the defendants. knew that
to have been the case and extracts
from Morgans testimony We're quoted
in support of the statement.
The decree of the circuit court could
no, have been of smaller scope, he
said. and it had in no way exceeded its
authority. Justice Harlan in conclu'
sion announced the confirmation of
the decision of that court, saying:
1.-The Judgment of this court is that
decree of the circuit court be and Is
hereby confirmed, with liberty to the
circait court to proceed in the execu-
ton of the decree as the circumstances
may require"
The decision was concurred Ill 10y
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