The Washington herald., 1914-02-01
Says that Courts Had Been Agents Of Reaction for Quarter
Of Century and Had by Conflicting Decisions Left
Nation Almost Impotent to Deal with Trusts.

tically the entire railway system in the
Northwest-possibly as the first step to-
ward controlling the entire railway sy.-
tenn OF the country. This control OF the
Northwestern railway systems was to be
Effected by organizing a new holding
company. and exchanging its stock
against the stock of the various corpora-
tons engaged in railway transportation
throughout that vast territory. exactly
as the Sugar Trust had acquired control
OF the Knight company and other con-
Germs This company was called the
Northern Securities Company.
Not long after j became President on
the advice Of the Attorney General, Mr..
Knox, and through him, l ordered pro-
ceedings 10 be instituted for the dissoIu-
ton OF the company. As far as could be
told by their utterances at the time,
among all the great lawyers in the
United States Mr.. Knox was the only
one who believed that this action could
be sustained The defense was based
expressly on the ground that the Su-
preme Court in the knight case had ex-
plcitiy sanctioned the formation of such
company as the Northern Securities
Company The representatives of priv
lege intimated. and sometimes asserted
outright. that in directing the action 10
be brought l had shown a lack OF re-
spect for the Supreme Court. which had
already decided the question at issue
by vote Of eight TO one. Mr. Justice
White, then on the Court and now
Chief Justice, set forth the position with
what / regard as incontrove rtible logic
In giving the views of the dissenting
minority on the action 1 had brought.
he said:
The T4ralIcl between the two case 1.-THE Knisht
case and the Northern Securities easel Is conpcse
The oorporaton acquired the stosk Of the oihsr
and competing corporations in e1rhzngp fCT its own
IL conSRded for the IGIrInses Of the csrs that
in doing EonOpoly had besn brUGsht abuut IN
the refining Of that the sugar &c rru.iuc--i
likely TO becnsne the sIblec1 Of interstate
merce. and irdeed that par Of IL would CERTAINLY
become But the power q CunEryss DECIDED
e1tend to the subject because the o~rershiT,
% the stock in tie eO1Dztrns not itself
cumme-ue.
Downing the knight DecIsion.
Mr.. Justice White was entirely correct
in this statement The cases were par
alleL 1t was necessary to reverse the
knight case in the interests of the people
against monopoly and privilege just as it
had been necessary to reverse the bred
Scott case in the interest Of the people
against slavery and privilege: just as
later it became Necessary to reverse the
New York bakeshop case in the interest
OF the people against that form Of mo-
nopolistic privilege which puts human
rights below property rights where wage
workers were concerned.
By a vote of five to four the Supreme
Court reversed its decision in the knight
case and in the Northern Securities case
sustained the Government The power TO
deal with industrial monopoly and sup
press it and to control and regulate COM
binations, of which the Knight case had
deprived the Federal Government. was
thus restored to il by the Northern Sc
curities case
.Nostheru Securities Conrany Ct al ~ o. s.. I8
Z. s., Sept. pp. 3D.