The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-07
THE FARMER: JANUARY r. 1o1t

regulations as the interstate commerce may prescribe.
 I recommend that the law shall be amended so as to provide that from and after the date of It's passage no railroad company subject to the inter- state commerce act shall. directly or indirectly, acquire any interests of any kind in capital stock or purchase or lease any railroad of any other corpo- ration which competes with it respect ing business to which the interstate commerce act applies. But especially for the protection of the minority stock holders in securing to them the best market for their stock l recommend that such prohibition be coupled with a proviso that it shall not operate to prevent any corporation which at the date of the passage of such act shall own not less than one-half of the en- tire issued and outstanding capital stock of any other railroad company from acquiring all or the remainder of such stock nor to prohibit any railroad company which at the date of the en- actment of the law is operating rail- road of any other corporation under lease, executed for term of not less than twenty-five years, from acquiring the reversionary ownership of the de missed railroad but that such provi- sions shall not operate to authorize or validate the acquisition, through stock ownership or otherwise. of a compet- ing line or interest therein in violation of the antitrust or any other law.
 = 7E4
 AWatering" of Railroad Stock.
 recommend the enactment of law providing that no railroad corporation subject to the interstate commerce act shall hereafter for any purpose con nectel with or relating to any part of its business governed by said act issue any capital stock without previous or simultaneous payment to it of not less than the par value of such stock or any bonds or other obligations except notes maturing not more than one year from the date of their issue) without the previous or simultaneous payment to such corporation of not less than the par value of such bonds or other oGli- gations or, if 5issued at less than their par value. then not without such pay rient of the reasonable market value of such bonds or obligations as ascer- tained by the interstate commerce com mission, and that no property, services or other thing than money shall be taken in payment to such carrier cor poration Of the par or other required price of such stock, bond or other ob- Hgation except at the fair value of such property, services or other thing as ascertained by the commission, and that such act shall also contain provi- sions to prevent the abuse by the i'm provfdent Or improper issue of notes maturing at period not exceeding tweIy e mon ths from date in such man ndr as to com init the commission to the approval of q larger amount of stock or bonds in order to retire such notes than should legitimately have been re quired.
 Such act should also provide for the approval by the interstate commerce commission of the amount of stock and bonds to be issued by any railroad company subject to this act upon any reconciliation pursuant to judicial sale or other legal proceedings in order to prevent the issue of stock and bonds to an amount in excess of the fair value of the property which is the sub- ject of such reorganization.
 Tn addition to the foregoing amend ments of the interstate commerce law, the interstate commerce commission should be given the power, after a hearing. to determine upon the uni form construction of those appliances used by the trainmen in the operation of trains the defects and lack of uni fornaity in which are apt to produce accidents and injuries to railway train men.
 The question has arisen in the oper- ation of the interstate commerce em- ployers liability act as to whether suit can be brought against the em- p1oyer company in any place other than that of it's home office. Process in such suit should be sufficiently serv- ed if upon the station agent of the company upon whom service is au- thorized to be made in ordinary ac- tions arising under state laws.
 Antitrust Law and Federal Incorpora- tion.
 The increase in the capital of a busi- ness for the purpose of reducing the cost of production and effecting econ omy in the management has become as essential in modern progress as the change from the hand tool to the ma chine When. therefore, we come to construe the object of congress in adopting the so called Sherman anti trust act'' in> 1890, thereby in the first section every contract. combination in the form of trust or otherwise or conspiracy in restraint of interstate or foreign trade or commerce is con- demned as unlawful and made subject to indictment and restraint by injunc- ton and whereby in the second sec tion every monopoly or attempt to mo- nopOlize and every combination or conspiracy with other persons to mo- nopolize any part of interstate trade or commerce is denounced as illegal and made subject to similar punish
 nent or restraint, we must infer that the evil aimed at was not the mere bigness of the enterprise, but it was the aggregation of capital and plants
 with the express or implied intent to
 restrain interstate or foreign com merce or to 1nonopolize it in whole or in part. A mere incidental restraint