Middletown transcript., 1904-03-19
IREmARKAsLE DECISION

Ooon IN vain.
A REMARKABLE DECISION
"The decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States in sus-
tanning the Circuit Courts decree
in the Northern Securities case
imparts to the Sherman Anti
Trust law a potency for produc-
ing drastic and far reaching ef-
fects. Thegreatraiiroad merger
Immediately at issue before the
court is not only declared illegal,
but the affirmation Of the princi-
pies on which this finding is
based leads to conclusions of the
most vital significancein in connec-
ton with a large portion of the
railway system of the country
as we'll as with commercial or
manufacturing trusts.
"The Northern Securities
Company was organized and in
corporated under the laws of the
State of New Jersey for the pur-
pose of acquiring control and
ownership of two important rail
roads in distant part of the
United State, entirely uncon-
nection with New Jersey-the
Great Northern Railroad and the
Northern Pacific Railroad. The
stock of these corporations was
transferred to the Securities
Company to the end that both
roads might be managed without
the competition which had pre-
viously existed between them.
The contention of the Federal
Government in calling for an in
junction against this combination
was that it was intended to oper-
ate as a check on competition;
that its effect was to create a mo-
nopoly, and that it was a VIOLA
ton of the prohibition which
Congress in the Sherman anti
Trust act had set up against mo-
nopolies under its power to re-
gulate interstate commerce.
"The Supreme Court appa-
rently sustains this contention
in every essential particular. 1t
dissolves the Northern Securities
combination. 1t declares that
no State has the right to incorpo-
rate any organization for the
purpose contemplated or at
tempted by this company. 1t
holds that the power fully re-
sides in Congress to invalidate
the legislation of any States
which tends to restrain the op-
erations of trade. Nor is it nec-
essary to show that there has
been an actual restraint or con-
dition of restraint imposed by
the acts of a com bination thus
formed. The mere attempt to
do so is subject to the action of
Fedral authority. In the case
of the Nothern Securities COM
pany the requirement of the
ownership of the two railroads
in question, aside from any
specific act in the monopolizing
of traffic, is held to be a suf-
ficient ground for justifying the
point that the Congressional
| statute had been violated and
that therefore the ownership per
Sc of an interstate railway comes
within the power of Congress
to regulate under it's juris.
diction over interstate commerce
when that ownership is in the
nature of combination to pre-
vent competition.
SIN short, the general trend of
the decision is to place in the
hands of Congress an almost abb
! solQte power over corporations
If all kinds which are engaged
in interstate trade. 1t strikes at
all the tricks, sophistries and
evasions which have been prac.
ticed in mergers" and corpo-
rate consultations under State
laws and clearly establihes the
right of the Federal Govern
! ment to dissolve them when they
operate beyond the lines of a
ingle State. The possession of
prohibited power is regarded by.
the court as equivalent to its ex-
ercise, and the Federal Govern
ment may consequently step in