The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-02-01
n BREAK MONOPOLY.
-oeNEY GENERAL BONAPARTE
m START SUIT UNDER THE
SHERMAN LAW.
.k Control Held to Be IIIegal-Cre-
,.ss Monopoly of Transcontinental
seic West of Missouri-Clark Was
.orced to SeII-Harriman, Schiff
.d others to Be Defendants.

-, ponaparte has directed that bill
oonity be filed to set aside the con
t ~ nv the Union Pacific Railway Com
INV and its subsidiary corporations
tho Southern Pacific and the San
n,aro Los Angeles & Salt Lake Rail
yods. also to have declared illegal
tHo ownership by the Union Pacific or
~ oregon Short Line of stock in the
canta Fee the Great Northern and
Tortbern Pacific, all of said lines be.
no councillors of the Union Pacific.
The attorney general issued an Of
soio1 statement to this effect, which,
atfpr referring to the extended inves-
s;aations by the interstate commerce
commission into the relations existing
ornong the various lines of road en-
nognd in transcontinentalt traffic, says:
From the evidence so adduced and
from independent investigation the de-
nartment has arrived at the conclusion
tbot the stockholding of the Union Pa
oifc and its subsidiary companies in
tbe corporations mentioned above is
n direct violation of the Sherman act.
Violates Sherman Act.
"Tbe department regards the suit as
Of first Importance, as it is sought by
means thereof to break up a substan-
rial monopoly of the transportation
busipess of the country between the
Missouri river on the east and the en-
tire Pacific coast south of Portland on
the west
Aside from the railway companies
above named, the other defendants in
tbe suit are the Farmers Loan & Trust
Company of New York, which is the
depository of all the stock of the San
Pedro road under contract by which
It is required to give proxies to such
persons as may be named by Mr.. Har-
riman and Mr.. Clark for period of
Years There are also individual de-
PENDANTS who are alleged to have con-
ceived and carried out the conspiracy
complained of, towit: E. H. Hartman,
Jacob H. Schiff, Otto H. Kahn, James
Sillman, Henry G. Prick, Henry H.
Rogers and William A. Clark.
While naming the individual defend
ants the statement makes no. mention
Of any intention personally in any GRIM
inal proceedings. The statement con-
tinues:
Aimed at Monopoly in West.
1T apepars by the testimony in the
possession of the department that a
combination was formed about the be-
ginning of the year 1901 by E. H. Har-
riman of New York, the president of
the Union Pacific, and certain of his
associates, for the purpose of obtain
ing monopoly of all transcontinental
transportation business. The first
move was the acquisition of sufficient
stock of the Southern Pacific Company
to insure its control. That company
owned line of railroad extending
from New Orleans and points in Texas
on tidewater through California to
Portland, Ore; also a line from Ogden,
Utah, to San Francisco. The Southern
Pacific had been for years one of the
principal competitors of the Union Pa
clhc AS the result of such control by
The stock owners, the management OF
the two companies had been amalga-
mated and since 1902 majority Of the
BOARD Of directors of the Southern Pa
clhc have been members of the board
OF directors of the Union Pacific. Com
petition between the two companies
mad been substantially eliminated.
CIark's Road Absorbed.
The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt
Lake road was projected as an indie
pendent line by w. A. Clark and his as
sooates, to run from San Pedro, on
uueWater in California, through Los
angeles to Salt Lake City, having con-
nectlon at that point with the Union
racine and with the Gould system.
Ailef the work of construction was in
rosress the parties in control Of the
unlon Pacific, by means of harassing
N'sation designed to prevent the &C
suisluon of necessary right Of way and
" threats of paralleling the line, If
.Onsolldated, so as to render the same
snpfontable, and by other means, in
suced Clark and his associates to aban-
WI the scheme of an Independent road
wv 10 Join with the Oregon Short Line,
aAlns over certain track owned or con-
" roi.ed by that company in Southern
~ 'an and Eastern Nevada and giving
;u e oregon Short Line an equal stock
D'erest in the San Pedro, Los Angeles
Salt Lake road with that held by
t s.aih and his associates. Then addi-
nOndl traffic agreements and contracts
ro ere made between the San Pedro and
"a raiious corporations included in the
n1 strlman system, so called, which de-
a a.o the San Pedro of its independ-
,hs s0 and makes it in effect part of
'ue same system.
NO.: as 10 the Santa Fee, which is COM
o;s ans line with both the Union Pa
tha. and Southern Pacific, it appears
30 a' Mr.. Hartman and his associates
~ sg u sufficient interest in the San
IL, SO that two members Of the I'm
Ana AM raclfic board, towit, Messrs. Frick
70. nogers, became and still are d.