The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-15
SUPREME COURT SAYS
NORTHWESTERN LINES
CANNOT BE MERGED.
Continued from First Page.

OF liberty of contract does not pre-
vent Congress from prescribing the
rule of free competition for those en-
gagged in interstate and international
commerce.
THAT under it's power to regulate
commerce among the several states
and foreign nations, Congress had au-
thority to enact the statute in ques-
ton"
Justice Harlan took up the conten-
lions Of the counsel for the Securities
Company, and in presenting them said
that Underlying their argument is
the idea that as the Northern Securi-
ties Company is a corporation and as
its acquisition of the stock of the
railroad companies is consistent with
the powers conferred by it's charter,
the enforcement of the act of Con-
gress as against these corporations
will be in its operation an interference
by the national government with the
internal commerce of the states Great
ing those corporations"
Right of Federal Control.
To this objection Justice Harlan di-
rected a very large share of his opinion,
returning frequently during the course
of his remarks to a presentation of the
right of federal control over state di-
rection in such cases. Speaking of the
states rights plea of the railroad repre-
sentative, he said:
This view does not impress us.
There is no reason to suppose that Con-
gress had any purpose to interfere
with the internal affairs of the states,
nor is there any ground whatever for
the contention that the antitrust act
regulates their domestic commerce. By
its very terms the act regulates only
commerce among the states and in the
foreign states. Viewed in that light,
the act must be respected. BY the eX-
plicit words of the constitution that in
strument and the laws enacted by
Congress in pursuance of it's provisions,
are the supreme law of the land, ANY
thing in the constitution or the laws of
any state to the contrary notwithstand-
ng.-Supreme over the states, or the
courts and even over the people of the
United States, the source of all power
under our governmental system in re-
spect of the objects for which the con-
stitution was ordained. An act of
Congress constitutionally passed under
its power to regulate commerce among
the states and with foreign states is
binding upon all, as much so as if it
was embodied in terms, in the conStitu-
ton itself. Every judicial officer,
whether of a national or a state court,
is under the obligations of an oath to SO
regard a lawful enactment of Congress.
Not even a state, still less one of its
artificial creatures, can stand in the
way of it's enforcement. If it were
otherwise. the government and its laws
might be Frustrated at the feet of local
authority"
A Question Not Involved.
Justice Harlan brushed aside as
scarcely worth mentioning the con-
tention on the part of the Securities
Company that the question involved is
the right of an individual to dispose Of
his stock in state corporation, and
that in such transactions the individ-
uals whose interests are involved are
subject only to the restraint of state
laws. Justice Harlan also referred to
the argument that the position of the
government amounts to declaring that
the ownership of stock in a railroad
corporation is in itself interstate COM
merce, and to other similar declara-
tions, and, commenting upon these, he
said:
1--WE do not understand that the gov
eminent makes any such contentious
or takes any such positions as those
statements imply. 1t does not con-
tend that Congress can control the
mere ownership of stock in a state
corpora ton, engaged in interstate COM
gress may project the freedom of in
terstate commerce by any means that
are appropriate, and that are lawful
and not prohibited by the constitu-
ton"
The opinion then takes up the right
of Congress to enact such legislation
as the antitrust law and says:
whether the free operation of the
normal laws of competition is a wise
and wholesome rule for trade and COM
merce is an economic question, which
this court need not consider or deter
mine. Many persons, we may judicial
ly know, of wisdom, experience and
learning, believe that such a rule is
more necessary in these days of enor-
NOUS wealth than it ever was in any
former period of our history; indeed,
that the time has come when the pub
lie needs to be protected against the
exactions of corporations welding the
power, which attends the possession of
unlimited capital. Be that as it may,
Congress has, in effect, recognized the
rule of free competition, when de-
claring illegal every combination, or
conspiracy in restraint of Interstate
and international commerce. If in the
Judgment of Congress the public con-
Venience or the general welfare Will
be best subserved when the national
laws of competition are left undistur-
bed by those engaged in interstate
commerce, that must be, for all, the
end of the matter, If this is to re-
main a government of laws, and not
of men,"
Antitrust Law Constitutional.
Justice Harlan announced the in
ability of the court to concur in the
view that the antitrust act is repug-
nant to the constitution of the United
States. He said:
IF the contentious of the defendants
are sound why may not all the railway
companies in the United States that
are engaged under state charters in in
terstate and international commerce,
enter into a combination such as the
one here in question and by the device
of the holding corporation control
throughout the entire country rates for
passengers and freight beyond the
power of Congress to protect the pub
lie against, their exactions. The argu-
ments in behalf of the defendants
necessarily lead to such results and
place Congress, also invested by the
people of the United States with full
authority to regulate interstate and in
ternational commerce, in condition OF
utter helplessness, so far as the protec-
ton of the public against such combi-
nations are concerned"
Coming again to the consideration of
the contention that interference by the
federal government with the affairs of
a state corporation will prevent the