The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-03-19

Washington, March 1.-THE opin-
ion of the United States supreme court,
involving the merger Of the Northern
Pacific and Great Northern Companies,
was handed down this morning and is
in favor of the government. The opin-
ion was read by Justice Harlan. The
opinion of the circuit court for the
district of Minnesota was affirmed.
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 hold
ing company, the principal object be-
ing to prevent competition.
mo 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,
trust"
The case has attracted greater atten-
ton than any other suit before the
court since the first insular cases were
decided and has been regarded by
bench and bar as equal in importance
with those cases and with the income
tax case.
The suit was instituted by the Unit
ed States against the Northern Securi-
ties company and the two railroad
companies, the Northern Pacific and
the Great Northern, and their leading
stockholders for the purpose of dissolv
| ing the merger of the two roads which
the United States declared had been
formed by the creation of holding
company, the Northern Securities COM
pany..
The consolidation was claimed to be
in violation of the Sherman antitrust
law. 1t was claimed on behalf of the
was in effect pool created to promote
the interests, not of one system at the
expense of the other, but of both at
the expense of the public.
The railroads claimed that the trans
fer of the stock of the two companies
to the securities company was in the
nature of sale perfectly legitimate.
The contentious of the securities
company were reviewed by Justice
H arlan, who said they had received
full attention. He quoted the various
opinions involving the trust question,
saying that from them it is to be gath
cred that all contracts in restraint of
trade, reasonable or unreasonable, are
prohibit by the Sherman law, and
congress has the power to establish
such relations as are laid down IN that
law. Congress had power, in other
words. to encat the statute.
Justice Harlan said that the conten.
ton that the law interfered with the
rights of individual states by which
the companies are incorporated was
not we'll founded. In such cases he
said the authority of congress is su.
preme.
Rights of Stockholders.
He also declared it to be unnecessary
to determine the right of the owners
of railroad stock to sell the property
nor was it true that the right of the
securities company to own and hold
railroads is the only question involved.
Such contentious are wide of the mark
mere men of straw. All that the
government complains of is the exist
ence of corporation to repress COM
MERGE and is not concerned with the
other points.
Justice Harlan said that in this day
there should be no doubt of the power
; of congress to control interstate COM
; merce. The prior trust cases were in
support of THAT contention. Whether
, | md SaA
wise, he said, was an economic ques-
; tino, with which the court need not
concern itself.
He asserted the power of congress
over interstate commerce 70 be as com
plete as the power of a state over do
nestle commerce.
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
not all the railroads of the United
States enter into a combination and by
the device of holding company cor
poration control rates throughout the
country"
Justice Harlan also discussed the
predictions of financial disaster from
the enforcement of the nti-trust law,
but discouraged them, saying they were
unusual under such circumstances and
need not be realized.
Justice Harlan declared that the
only object of the merger was to pre-
vent competition. j. Pierpont Nor
gan, one of the defendants. knew that
to have been the case, and extracts