The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1904-03-19
MERGER HELD ILLEGAL
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
susrAlNs Government IN
SECURITIES CASE.
eTIFLING OF COMPETITION MAIN
OBJECT OF CONSOLIDATING
PARALLEL ROADS.
POWER OF CONGRESS OVER IN.
TERsTArE COMMERCE HELD
TO BE COMPLETE.

; ~ Dc SO"TGSS6 S6s
Washington, March 15.-The opin.
lon of the supreme court of the United
States in the case of the Northern
Securities company vs.. the United
States, involving the merger of the
Northern Pacific and the Great North
,eru Railroad companies. was handed
down during the day and was In favor
of the government. The opinion was
read by Justice Harlan and concurred
in by Justices Brown, Brewer, Nc.
Kenna and Day, while the chief Justice
and Justices White, Peckham and
Holmes dissented.
The effect is to sustain the conten.
tion that the antitrust law applies to
railroad combinations of the character
in question.
Justice Harlan said that in the mer-
ger of the two roads the stockholders
disappeared and reappeared in the Sc
curities company, the two thus becom-
ing practically consolidated in a hold
Ing company, the principal object be-
ing to prevent competition.
"No 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
Contentious Of Defendant Reviewed.
The contentious of the Securities
company were reviewed and Justice
Harlan said they had received full at
tention. He quoted the various opin-
ions involving the trust question, say
ing that from them it is to be gathered
that all contracts in restraint of trade,
reasonable or unreasonable, are pro-
hibited by the Sherman law and that
congress has the power to establish
such regulations as are laid down In
that law.
Replying In detail to the points made
for the Securities company Justice
Harlan said that the contention that
the law is an interference with the
rights of the individual states by which
the companies are incorporated was
not well founded. In such cases, he
said, the authority of congress is su-
preme.
He also declared it to be unneces-
sary to determine the right Of owners
of railroad stock to sell the property.
nor was it true that the right Of the
Securities company to own and hold
railroad stock Is the only question in
volved. Such contentious are wide Of
the mark-mere men Of straw. All
that the government complains Of is
the existence Of corporation to re-
press commerce and Is not concerned
with the other points.
Congress Has Complete Control.
Justice Harlan said that in this day
there should be no doubt of the com
plete power of congress to control in
terstate commerce. All the prior
trust cases were in support Of that
contention. Whether free and unre-
strained competition was wise, he
which the court need not concern It,
self, the question was that of statu-
tory law.
Coming to the plea Of the railroads
that the antitrust law should be de-
clared unconstitutional he said that
the court could not see its way to that
end.
"If," he went on, "the Securities
company's contentious are sound why
may not all the railroads of the Unit
ed States enter into a combination
and by the device of holding cor.
poration control rates throughout the
country in defiance Of congress?"
Justice Harlan also took occasion to
say that there had been nothing in the
Securities company's certificate Of in
corporation to indicate its purpose to
be that of destroying commerce and
he therefore absolved the state Of New
Jersey from any charge Of such knowl-
edge in advance. ~ "
Principal Object Of Merger.
Justice Harlan declared that the only
object of the merger was to prevent
competition and he said that II no one
else knew this to be the case ]. Pier
pont Morgan, one of the defendants,
knew that to have been the case.
Logically construed, Justice Harlan
said. the decision should be followed
by the criminal prosecution Of the par
ties at interest in this case.
Justice Harlan held the evidence to
fully sustain the allegations Of the
bill against defendants and showed Q
violation of the antitrust act in orga-
nizing the Northern Securities COM
pany.
He held that if such combination
were not destroyed "all the advantages
that would naturally come to the pub
lie under the operation Of the general
laws of competition, as between tho
Great Northern and Northern Pacific
Railway companies, will be lost and
the entire commerce Of the immense
territory in the northern part of the
United States between the Great
Lakes and the Pacific at Puget sound
will be at the mercy of a single hold
ing corporation, organized in state
distant from the people Of that terri.
tory 7
"The judgment Of this court is that
the decree below Of the circuit court
be and hereby is affirmed, With liberty
to the circuit court to proceed in due
execution of the decree as the circum-
stances may require"
Justice Holmes read the dissenting
opinion. He construed the antitrust
law as criminal statute and declared
that there was nothing In 1t to indi-
cate that it had been enacted merely
for the control Of large concerns, %
is generally contended.
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