The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-15

NHIASHINGTON, March H.-ln the
w United states Supreme court to-
day an opinion was delivered in
The merger case Of the Northern Sc
curities company vs. United States. in
favor of the governments contention
that the merger was illegal The
opinion Of the court was handed down
by Justice Harlan. and it upheld the
decree Of the circuit court for the Dis
trict Of Minnesota in every particular
-Four Of the Justices dssented from the
five constituting the majority. The
division in the court was due TO diff
ference of opinion as TO the right Of
federal control Of state corporations
The majority opinion proceeded on the
theory that congress has a right under
The constitution to control interstate
commerce, no matter by whom con-
Quoted. while the minority. or dissent
ing opinion. was based on the theory
that in the present case the effort TO
regulate the ownership is not inter
state traffic.
Effort at Secrecy.
An effort was made by the court to
prevent the knowledge Of the fact that
the opinion was 90 be rendered today
from getting TO the public but. never
theless. IL was quite generally under
stood among newspaper men. attorneys
and others for an hour or so before the
conVening OF court today that the
opinion would be announced When.
therefore, the members of the court
filed into the chamber they were met
by an eXpectant crowd which filled
every seat both inside and outside the
bar. Seated among the attorneys were
Attorney General Knox and Secretary
Taft, and AN unusual number of sen
atOrs and members of the house There
M
promptly on the assembling Of the
court Justice Harlan began the de-
livery Of the opinion. The fact that he
had been selected for the prepare ton
of the document at once led most peO-
ple 10 conclude that the decision would
uphold the Sherman antitrust law and
sustain the contentious Of the govern
lment Tho justice read his opinion
from printed copy which covered
thirty pages, and consumed about an
hour and "A quarter in its delivery.
Court Was Divided.
Very soon after Justice Harlan had
concluded his presentation of the case
It became evident that the court had
divided on the questions at issue. and
az other opinions were announced II
developed that there not only had been
a very close shave for the government,
but that one of the members of the
JOrity entertained opinit.ns OF his own,
which fact rendered the division all the
more marked and interesting. This was
Justice Brewer. who. while he con-
CURED i'm the decision. announced in an
Independent opinion of his view. that
previous antitrust decisions had been
more sweeping than was justified.
Four Of the nine justices dissented
outright. These were Chief Justice
Fuller and Justices White, Peckham
and Holmes The opinions OF Justices
Harlan and White were long while
those Of Justices Brewer and Holmes
were comparatively brief. All told the
court consumed two hours and three
quarters in dispOsing Of the case. The
fact was noted by several persons that
the argument i'm the case was begun
December ID, just three months pre-
NiOus to the decision. For so import
: ant a case this is considered a very
brief interim between the arguments
and the decision. The case decided to-
day was brought by the United States
against the Northern Securities COM
paDy. a corporation OF New Jersey: the
Great Northern Railway company.
corporation OF Minnesota: the Northern
Pacific Railway company. a corpora
ton OF Wisconsin: James J. Hill,
citizen Of Minnesota. and William =.
Clough. ID. Willis James. John =. Ken
ncdy. j. PierpOnt Morgan. Robert
Bacon. George +. Baker and Daniel
Lamont. citizens of New York.
It's general object was to enforce. as
against the defendants the pro-
visions OF the statute Of July >. 1890
commonly known as the antitrust act
and entitled An Act To Protect Trade
and Commerce Against Unlawful
Restraint and MOnopOlies."
Gist of the Contentious.
After announcing the origin and pIIr-
pose sought 10 be accomplished by the
suit. Justice Harlan reviewed the facts
AS disclosed by the record IN the case.
OF the governments case. DE said:
The government charges that If the
combination was held not to be i'm vio-
lation of the act Of congress. then all
efforts Of the national government TO
preserve 10 the people the benefit Of
free competition among carriers en-
gagged IN interstate commerce viii be
wholly unavailing. and all transcOnti-
mental lines, indeed the entire railroad
systems of the country. may be alb
sorbed. merged and consolidated, thus
placing the public at the absolute
mercy of the holding corporations"
And OF the railroads case: The sew
cral defendants denied all the allega-
tions OF the bin imputing 10 them a
purpose to evade the provisions of the
act of congress or to form combina-
lion on conspiracy having for its object
either 60 restrain or monOpolizc COM
ucrce or trade among the states or
with foreign nations. They denied that
amy combination or conspiracy was
formed i'm violation Of the act
Law Plainly Violated
Having outlined these preiiminsries.
Justice Harlan came Immediately to