The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-22
Contemporary Comment
AS to Running Amuck.

In his comment upon the supreme
court decision in the Northern Securi-
ties case, Attorney General Knox said:
During the trial and argument the
government paid no heed to DEFEND
ants contention that the makeup of
substantially all the great American
systems of railroads was on trial. The
governments position before the court
was the validity Of the Northern Sc
curities device. It's invalidity is what
the court has decided. The govern
ment is claiming no more now In re-
spect. to this case than it did before
the bar of the court. say this much,
not because it is necessary to give the
country assurances that the govern
ment does not mean to run amuck. but
because of the historical character OF
some utterances that followed the de-
cision of the court below"
And why, pray, does the government
now falter and draw back? The gov
eminent intends to enforce the law,
does it not? If the president and the
attorney general keep the obligation of
their oaths to enforce the law, they
must forthwith begin proceedings that
in their consequences will be quite in
distinguishable from those of the act
happily described by the attorney gen.
eral as running amuck. The savage
who runs amuck cuts and slashes on
every Side That Is exactly what the
president and the attorney general
must do. Scores, hundreds, perhaps
thousands of corporations in this coun-
try are today doing business in open
and fgrant violation Of the law of con-
gress just applied in all it's rigor by
the supreme court. The railroad sys
TENS controlled by the Rock Island,
the Pennsylvania, the New York Cen
trail, and the New York, New Haven
& Hartford companies are operated I'M
der agreements and consultations
which constitute in the several cases
a contract, combination in the form
of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy In
restraint of trade or commerce among
the several states" in defiance of the
antitrust act. The violations of the
law in these cases are as unmistakable
as was the violation in the case OF
| the Northern Securities company. Have
| the people of the states within winch
| these law breaking railroad systems
are operated no rights which the gov
eminent is bound to respect? JUS
| tice Harlan, in writing the opinion or
| the court, said that the forbidden re-
| straints upon interstate commerce In
wade rights which the public is en-
| titled to have protected" Are the
| rights Of the people Of the Dakotas,
| of wyoming, of Montana, Idaho, Ore
| gon and Washington more sacred than
| the rights Of the people of New York
| city, for instance, who cannot travel
north. south, east or west without pay
| ing tribute to a transportation COM
| pany carrying on it's business in VIOLA
| ton of the law of 1903? Is it because
President Hill is more od1ous to the
| administration than President Mellen
| that the one is smitten and the other
| goes scot free? Has the government"
| any special tenderness for Mr.. Cassatt
or for the Vanderbilts that it winks
| at their lawlessness while calling Mr..
| Hill and Mr.. Morgan to stern account.
| This will not do. Nothing but the
most contemplate hypocrisy and cow
| ardice can now restrain the admins
| tration from letting loose all the dogs
| Of war upon the guilty restrainers OF
| trade. President Cleveland and Presi-
| dent Mckinley, innocent souls, did not
| know, for they had never measured
| either their powers or their duties I'M
| der this law. The excuse Of ignorance
| has been swept away from Mr.. Roose-
tvelt's administration by his own acts,
| eliminating in the authoritative dec
| larations of the supreme court. Will
his political friends advise him that
| an assault upon four ffths of the rail-
| road systems of the country would be
| bad beginning for his campaign. They
| are evil counselors, Mr.. President. Your
/ duty as president is a duty you owe
| to the public. Your campaign inter-
| ests are wholly private. Justice Harlan
said in his opinion that "the interests
| of private persons and corporations
cannot be made paramount to the in
| terests of the general public" And
| again he declared that the supremacy
| of the law is the foundation rock upon
| which our institutions rest" There is
| the mandate of the president and of the
attorney general. They cannot disobey,
they cannot refuse to heed, without
running a risk of greater damage to
| their regulations than they ought to be
| willing to incur.-New York Times.