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The Commoner.
'APRIE 24; 1003.
15
act applies to- interstate carriers of
freight and passengers as 'well as to
all other persons, natural or artificial;
that the words "In restraint ol trade
or commerce" do not mean unrea
sonable or partial restraint of tradQ
or commerce, hut any direct restraint
thereof; that an agreement between
competing railroads, which require
them to act in concert in fixing the
rate for the carriage of passengers or
freight over their respective lines
from one state to another, and which
by that means temporarily restricts
the right of any other carriers to
name any rates for the carriage of
such freight or passengers over its
rnn.ri. n.a it nlon.sos. Is a contract in
direct restraint of commerce within i
the meaning of the act, In that it
tends to prevent competition.
It matters not whether, while act
ing under such a contract, the rate
fixed is reasonable or unreasonable,
the vice of such a contract or combi
nation being that it confers the power
to establish unreasonable rates and
directly restrains commerce by plac
ing obstacles in the way of free and
unrestricted competition between car
riers who aro natural rivals for pa
tronage; and, finally, that congress
has the power, under the grant oi
authority contained in the federal
constitution, to regulate commerce, to
say that no contract 'or combination
shall bo legal, which shall restrain in
terstate trade or commerce by shut
ting off the operation of tho general
law of competition. '
Under these propositions it isalso
held that if tho stock has been in
trusted to one person, with instruc
tions how to vote it, "the result would
have been a .combination in direct
restraint of interstate commerce," be
cause it gave power to 'suppress com
petition. The organization. if the .Securities
company, it is held-, "accbmplishea,the
object, which congress has denounced
as illegal, more effectually" than by
other methods, and- continues:
"So far as the New Jersey charter
is concerned the question, broadly
stated, which the court has to deter
mine, is whether a charter granted by
a state can be used to defeat the will
of the national legislature, as ex
pressed in a law relating to interstate
trade and commerce over which con
gress has absolute control. Presump
tively at least, no charter granted by
a state Is to-have that?-effect or be
used for such purpose; and in the pres
ent instance it is cleats that tho state
of New Jersey did not intend to grant
a charter under cover of which an
object denounced by congress as un
lawful, namely, a combination with
the power to restrain interstate com
merce, might be formed and main
tained, because the enabling act un
der which the securities company was
organized expressly declares that
three or more persons may avail
themselves of the provisions .-of the
act and become a "corporation for any
lawful purpose.'.' Laws of New Jer
sey, 1899, page 473.
"This language is not merely per
functory; it means obviously that
whatever powers the incorporations
saw fit to assume," they must hold
for the accomplishment pf lawful ob
jects. The words in questilm operate,
therefore, as a limitation Upon all the
powers enumerated in the articles of
asFociation,' which were filed by the
promoters .of the securities company,
co that, however extensive and com
prehensive these powers" may seem to
be, the state of New Jersey has said,
,TTou shall not exercise them so as to
set at defiance any statute lawfully
enacted by the congress of the United
States, or lawfully enacted by any
state wherein you see fit to exercise
your powers.'"
Tho contention that whatever re
straint upon interstate commerce
there may bo is indirect and remote,
and therefore not to be forbfdden by
congress, is not found to bo well sus
tained. The contention that if the existing
combination is. in violation of the
anti-trust act, then that act unduly re
stricts the rights of the individual .to
make contracts and is invalid, Is de
clared to bo entitled to little consid
eration. The court says: "The provision of
the constitution does not, as we be
lieve, exclude congress from legislat
ing with regard to contracts of tho
above nature, while in the exorcise of
Its constitutional right to regulato
commerce among tho states. On the
contrary, wo think tho provision re
garding tho liberty of the citizen is to
some extent limited by tho commerce
clause of the constitution, and that
the power of congress to regulate in
terstate commerce comprises tho right
to enact a law prohibiting tho citizen
from entering into those private con
tracts which directly and substantial
ly, and do not merely, indirectly, re
motely, incidentally and collaterally,
regulate to a greater or less degree
the commerce among tho states.'
Monopoly and Socialism.
That socialist convention which
hailed a leading Wall street organizer
as a fellow-worker In the good cause,
conveyed a certain truth in its irony.
That truth is that giant combinations,
approaching monopolistic control, are
distinctly playing the socialists' game.
This is especially the case with vast
corporations engaged in public ser
vice. As we see them united in larger
and larger holding companies, with
capitalizations mounting steadily to
wards" the proportions of the national
budget, the irresistible question Is,
Where Is the thing to stop? No sign
of retreat Is visible. "American finan
ciers," wrote a skilled foreign critic,
monttis ago, ''havo entered- on a path
upon which there can be nb turning
back." To restore the constituent
properties to their original holders
would be almost Impossible. The sys
tem of combination and re-comblna-tlon
goes on with accelerated momen
tum, and the socialist cannot be
blamed for chuckling as he sees, or
thinks he sees, the very forces of capi
talism driving blindly on to that com
plete monopoly known as the social
istic state.
This, is tho sort of thing which it is
hardest for convinced individualists to
meet Their "argument-goes upon" the
presumption of unfettered private in
itiative, and free competition. The
main reason why they oppose a "mo
nopolistic state is that all monopoly
is hateful to them. They believe in
the free play of the human spirit as
everywhere better than its narrowed
control. But if they are" compelled to
witness, in a nominally competitive
society, one area of activity atod in
dustry after another brought under
centralized and monopolistic manage
ment, they cannot but be disquieted.
If it comes to choosing between mo
nopoly for the benefit of a few, and
monopoly in the name of all, it will
not be strange If they hesitate. Why
is it better, for example, that the
manufacture of steel or the refining of
oil should be monopolized by a cor
poration, than that tho manufacture
of matches or the production -of al
cohol should be a state monopoly, as
it is abroad?. The destroyers of com
petition are the real enemies of our
existing social system- It is they that
individualists have to dread more than
tho street-corner orator, or the ped
dler of socialistic literature, x or the
foreign enthusiasts who have, come
here to organize American working
men for the comin? revolution. Those
republican senators who are so dis
turbed at the growth of the socialist
vote- would do well to look first to
some of their own associates and their
own methods. Every man who isvorks
to create a monopoly or who, in ita
name, exacts the uttermost farthing,
'.
is the most dangerous propagator of
socialism known today.
We have in this city at tho present
moment an excellent examplo of the
way in which an unblushing monop
oly plays into tho hands of the so
cialists, whom It professes to abhor.
The outrageous cnarges for public
lighting made by tho only company
able to put in a bid for tho work havo
led directly to a movemont for a mu
nicipal lighting plant. Tho theorists
might havo argued for this till dooms
day without producing tho effect
wrought by the exposure of a greedy
monopoly. Commissioner Monroo's
figures demonstratinc tho most wa
tery of overcapitalizations, and tho
most wanton of surcharges, remain
unchallenged by tho company's offi
cials. Thoy prefer to stand upon
their naked contract and their abso
lute monopoly. Squeeze tho water
out of their stock, cut off their public
franchises, and what would they havo
loft? Yet they propose to make tho
public smart that public which gives
tho only real value to their securi
ties. We cannot wonder that this at
titude of theirs has given a lift to the
project of municipal lighting sucb as
no amount of abstract discussion
could havo done. We, for our part,
(Continued on page 1G)
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