Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, December 18, 1912, NIGHT, Image 20
EDITORIAL PAGE
The Supreme Court Versus the People
The utter worthlessness, under existing conditions, of a civil
suit in preventing the injury of trust oppression and punishing the
evil of trust combination is shown in the decision of the supreme
court in the Coal Trust case.
Ten years after the evidence of the existence of the ( mil Trust
was first furnished to the government of the United States by my
attorneys, a decision is finally secured from the supreme court of
the United States confirming our contention that the anthracite
railroads had combined to strangle competition and were operat
ing as a combination in defiance of the Anti-Trust law.
For ten years during the progress of this suit the coal roads
have been able to maintain this combination, ami during all that
period to reap the millions of dollars of profit due to th ■ extortion
made possible by their illegal monopoly.
At the end of ten years' litigation th'- attorneys for tm people
have failed to secun an injunction against the combination itself,
whose existence was proved by the Temple Iron < ompanj and the
Coal Purchase contracts, and merely secure from the supreme court
the termination of these particular agents of monopoly which were
offered as evidences of the combination.
There is no restoration of the money robbed from the people
through the ten years’ continuance of this extortionate monopoly.
There is no penalty imposed upon any of the railroad and
financial magnates who created this illegal monopoly and robbed
the people by means of it.
Finally, there is no real relief provided for the future, as there
is nothing in the decision of the supreme court, which will prevent
the railroads and their coal companies from continuing to operate
under some other form ot monopolistic combination. They merely
will not be allowed to continue to operate under the particular
instrument of combination known as the Temple Iron Company
and the particular instruments of oppression known as the Coal
Purchase contracts.
The result of this decision, therefore, in the case of the Coal
Trust will be as ineffective for the cause of the people and as ad
vantageous to the cause of the I rusts as were the decisions in the
Standard Oil and Tobacco cases.
The individual component companies of these trusts may still
proceed in harmony and in complete agreement to maintain prices
to monopolize the market, to oppress the public and to pillage the
individual consumer. This result is already evidenced by the rise
in Reading stock, by the gleeful and congratulatory editorials in
the Trust press and by the expression of complete satisfaeiion bv
Mr. Baer, head of the Coal Trust.
In the issue of The New York Sun in which the Coal Trust
decision was printed, an editorial appears which says of the de
cision :
“We think it brings to an end the legal attack upon the An
thracite Railway Companies that has been in progress so long.”
The New York Times says: “The decision of the supreme
court in the case of the Coal Combination shows that the court is
stilt guided by its fortunate discovery of the light of reason.”
I’resident Baer says: “I have always been indifferent as to
the 65 per cent contracts. As to the Temple Iron Company de
cision, this is a matter of indifference.”
Os all the above mentioned authorities, the ticker is the most
reliable. It never lies and is seldom deceived.
After the decree of the supreme court “dissolving'' the Stand
ard Oil Trust, the price of the stock rose from $674 to SI,OBO a share.
After the decision in the Tobacco eases the price of the Tobacco
Trust stock rose from $465 to $528 for each SIOO share.
In the same way and in similar accurate appraisement of actual
conditions, the ticker has jumped from 158 14 to 168 in Reading
Company shares, registering an increase of $3,500,000 in the water
ed stock of that corporation alone.
And why not, I have said that the Temple Iron Company,
which is so solemnly dissolved by the supreme court, was merely
one of the instruments by which the Coal Combination effected
some of its illegal purposes.
But the Temple Iron Company was really' more than that—or.
rather, less than that. It was created for the definite purpose of
strangling a competing railroad line and had performed its func
tion. That railroad line has long since been eliminated from all
possible competition with the trust.
The dissolution, therefore, ot the lemple Iron ( tonpanv with
out any injunction which affects the general combination of the
coal-carrying railroads, is simply another one of those practical
jokes which Mr. Taft's reactionary supreme court delights in per
petrating upon the patient public
Since the supreme court decision pretending to dissolve the
Standard Oil (rust, the price of Standard Oil products has con
tinually increased and the value of standard Oil stocks has more
than doubled.
The people know this through their every day experience. The
people know that this increase in Standard Oil prices and increase
in Standard Oil wealth are due to a certain playful sleight-of-hand
performance on the part of the supreme court, "which goes through
the motions of dissolving a trust without dissolving it. just as ( hing
Ling Foo, the marvelous Chinese juggler, apparently causes your
watch to dissolve into thin air and then restores it to your waist
coat pocket, ticking just as regularly and faithfully and effectively
as ever.
The people know that the combination under which the stand
ard Oil Company now operates and which has been restored to their
plethoric pocket by the legal jugglery of the supreme court is even
better than ever, for it is a form of combination which has received
the sanction of the law—at least, as the law is interpreted by Mr
Taft s reactionary supreme court.
The people know that the supreme court read into the law
certain words that congress hitfl not put into the law and had not
intended to have in the law and had even refused to allow in the
law, just as t’hing Ling Foo takes out of your hat certain hard
boiled eggs and rolls of ribbon and rabbits that you had never put
in your hat and never intended to have in your hat and never ex
pected to see come out of your hat ; ami the audience laughs at your
surprise and embarrassment just exactly in tiie wav that the trusts
laugh at the people.
Owing to such supreme court jugglery in the Standard Oil ease,
a monopoly more oppressive than ever continues to exist, because
the monopoly can now be maintained and its acts of oppression and
extortion commuted without fear of legal consequences: inasmuch
as the monopoly m Hs present form has secured the approval and
indorsement of the supreme eofirt.
the nr ,n r ?‘ e r'h‘ ged dissol,ltiol ‘ " f '!*'■ Tobacco Trust, the cost of
o thaMrus- In IHS o f securities
or that trust has enormously advanced, because that monopoly, too
The Atlanta Georgian
is now operating under a charter from the supreme court to plunder
the people without fear of punishment.
In the same way nothing has really been done to dissolve the
Goal Combination. and the people may expect no more relief from
this la: -st < oal I rust decision than they secured from the Oil Trust
decision and the 1 obacco Trust decision and the other humorously
styled ‘ anti-trust decisions rendered by Mr. Taft’s reactionary
supreme court.
The price of coal will continue high and will go higher. The
combination of the coal roads will continue to be a monopoly and
will becom,- constantly a more-and more oppressive and extortion
ate monopoly.
I he monopoly will continue to operate in disregard of the inter
ests of the people and in defiance of the will of the people as long as
Mr. I alt s reactionary supreme court continues to render decisions
resulting in the protection of trusts and the perpetuation of monop
olistic extortion and oppression.
I lie tareical dissolution of the Temple Iron Company, an insti
tution which bad already served its purpose of strangling competi
tion and was no longer of essential value to the Coal Trust, is an
evidence of the indifference with which the supreme court regards
the people s interests and of the contempt with which it regards the
people's intelligence.
I he attorneys for the people could be coptent with no such
empty and insufficient act as a dissolution of certain agencies o/ the
trust, offered as evidence of the combination. The attorneys for the
people asked for genuine relief for the people, for a permanent in
junction against the continuance of the oppressive combination
which the Temple Iron Company and the Coal Purchase contracts
proved to exist.
It was proven that the coal railroads owned their own mines in
the coal district, and that the coal railroads deliberately killed the
competition of rival coal mines by means of discriminating trans
portation charges.
It was shown that the railroads refused to compete with each
other in freight rates, so that there was no relief to the coal pro
ducers ami shippers from universal rate oppression and discrimi
nation.
It was shown that the attempt to build a rival railroad to secure
relict from this destructive oppression and discrimination had been
killed by the joint efforts of the six Coal Trust railroads united for
this purpose in the Temple Iron Company.
It was shown that the railroads, through coal-selling compa
nies which they owned, maintained uniform high rates in New York
and other distributing centers, were responsible for the high price
of coal and prevented any reduction of price through oppression.
It was shown that these railroads established the selling price
of coal through price circulars issued by every railroad at the same
time and with the same provisions.
It was proven that these railroads compelled coal to be sold at
these fixed prices by blacklisting all coal merchants who did not
adhere to these fixed prices.
It was proven that these acts of trust oppression were so crim
inal in their character that, the agents of the coal companies who
attended the meetings authorizing these acts were registered on the
minutes not by their names, but by numbers, like convicts in the
penitentiary.
It was proven that in such ways the coal dealers were con
trolled and the coal mine owners were forced one by one to sell
out to or combine with the coal railroads.
It was proven that the Reading Railroad, by obtaining posses
sion of the coal mines within its territory and then by absorbing
the New Jersey Central, grew to control 63 per cent of the total coal
product in the coal mining district.
It has shown that these railroads and the coal they controlled,
in tmmbination with the other coal roads and the coal they con
trolled, established practically an absolute monopoly of the coal
produced, delivered and sold throughout the area covered by,these
roads.
I his whole combination is the thing which is oppressive to the
coal consumer. and which exists in defiance of the intentions of con
gress as expressed in the Sherman Anti-Trust law, and yet this
whole combination is allowed to remain in existence under the de
cision. The supreme court itself recognizes and admits the exist
ence of the combination ami the oppressive acts of the combination.
Ihe decision says: 'This combination of the defendants through
the Temple* Iron Company was effective. The New York. Wyo
ming and Western railroad was successfully STRANGLED, and
the monopoly of the transportation collectively held by the de
fendant carrier companies w as maintained.
I he combination by means of the Temple Iron Company still
exists. It has been ami still is an efficient agency for the collective
activities ot the defendant carriers for the purpose of preventing
competition in the transportation and sale of coal in other states.”
Vet. what is the result?
Tim existence of a combination to “STRANGLE" competition
and which existed ami still exists for the purpose of “STRAN
GLING competition, is admitted.
But under the dispensation of the supreme court the combina
tion is not enjoined, as the attorneys for the people prayed. The
guilty railroad presidents who violated the law to “STRANGLE”
competition are not marked out for punishment: competition is
not restored. The supreme court merely dissolves the instrument
b\ which, in the last analysis, is a license for the continuance of the
monopoly and which protects the privileged special interests ami
disregards the demands of the people and the rights of the people
under the law.
The most unworthy act of Mr. Taft's political career was the
packing of the supreme court of the United States to make it stand
as a bulwark tor the privileged interests against the growing pro
gressive inovement for equal justice and popular rights.
No institution, however reactionary, can continue permanently
to oppose the righteous requirements of the people.
Mr. T’att has received a deserved rebuke and a merited purr
ishment in the most ignominious repudiation recorded in American
history.
Mr. Taft has been dealt with by the people, but Mr Taft's re
actionary supreme court REMAINS to be dealt with bv the people
and Ml ST be dealt with by the people before the people can secure
the liberty, the equality, the opportunity, the legal and political
rights which are theirs'and which under our form of government
thev should ami shall enjoy.
WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST.
WEDNESDAY', DECEMBER 18, 1912.
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<>§ Working For the Boss
THE TOUGH JOB : : : : : By THOMAS TAPPER
THE famous African explorer,
Henry M. Stanley (his name
was really John Rowlands)
knew what It meant to face a hard
situation, to perform a difficult
piece of work. In fact, he worked
on the Tough Job so much that he
began to think out the philosophy
of it.
Here is the way he sized it up:
“The bigger the work, the
greater the joy in doing it.
"That whole-hearted striving
and wrestling with difficulty,
the laying hold with firm grip
and level head and calm reso
lution of the monster, and tug
ging. and toiling, and wrestling
at it, today, tomorrow and
next, until it is done; it is the
soldier’s creed of forward, ever
forward—it is the man's faith
that for this task was he born.
"Don't think of the morrow s
task, but what you have to do
today, and go at it.
"When it is over, rest tran
quilly, and sleep well.”
Good, cheerful philosophy, isn’t
it? Rut what is it all about?
Well, ft is something like this:
Work a Developer
A good tough job gets a man
thinking. When a man thinks he
is exercising the highest faculty he
possesses. And the more he exer
cises that faculty, the more of a
man he will be pretty soon.
Now, when a man gets to be
more of a man, his future is as se
cure as can be. Thinking that is
developed by a big piece of work
soon teaches a man how to-look
around. It is the men who do this
—look around and see things—who
succeed.
A certain corner lot on Broad
way had never been built on. It
was surrounded by' shops and
apartment houses, all full of plain
people and business men.
one day a man came along who
was accustomed to look around and
see things us they are. He figured
out that an apartment house on
that particular corner would pay.
He knew in his own mind why it
The Christmas Bundle
By HAL COFFMAN.
would pay, but he said nothing j.
about that.
On a small sum of money he took
over the property, and in the course
of a few months put up his apart
ment. When the building was ready
for tenants, another man came
along (also with the looking around
faculty) and bought it up, paying"
the first man a clear profit of one i
hundred and forty thousand dollars.
Language of Opportunity.
The druggist across the street
asks this question: How was It that
some of the business men in this
neighborhood did not see that
chance? The man that cleared the
profit had the foresight and the
courage to see the job through. He
was a German who could scarcely
speak English, but he could talk
the language of opportunity. Why
didn't some one of us see it? n .
Civilization in Arkansas
«?•?»!
It Is Bound to Get to the Legislature There Some Day.
Tn the “name of civilization.’’ Governor Donaghey, of Arkan
sas, pardoned 360 convicts to prevent them from being leased.
I his wholesale pardon was the last step in a bitter, tireless war
that the governor has carried on against this phase of barbarism
since'his election.
1 he governor failed in his fight to have the lease system abol
ished during his administration. The capitalists who have swelled
their fortunes by renting the convicts fought him at every turn,
and with their money beat him.
Donaghey s term ends January 1 and his wholesale pardon
came as* a final blow to the lease system. Today not a single con
vict m Arkansas is working for a contractor, and not one will work,
except on state and county improvements, until the lighting gov
ernor goes out of office.
Despite the tact that lie has been beaten. Donaghey has set a
fine example for the man who succeeds him. Xot once since he took
office has he wavered in his fight. He has followed the lines of
civilization taken by most of the other Southern states and sooner or
la,er the Arkansas law-makers will emerge from their medieval
s lells and turn their backs on the well-filled hands of contractors
th.it nave so successfully kept the state from progress and decencv.
War on the convict lease system can never be lost entirely.
Because two or three legislatures refuse to abolish it, there is rm
reason to give up tin- fight.
Civilization creeps in everywhere. Even the legislature of
Arkansas is not exempt. And when it does get there. Governor
Donaghey can see the fight he started was not in vain.
THE HOME PAPER
The answer to the druggist's
question is this:
Probably they did. not see it be
cause they had had no experience
in the real estate value line.
But there is another answer
which deals with the German.
He had the courage to follow up
his belief in his judgment. That
comes always from exercising the
judgment in hard jobs and getting
on friendly terms with them. Os
laying hold of them and wrestling
with them until they are down and
you are sitting on top of the pile.
Any job that puts you face to
face with plenty of trouble is worth
a fortune, because it is the expe
rience of doing tough jobs that
leads a man to fortune.
Abraham Lincoln looked at them
that way, and in no part of the
world is his birthday ever forgot
ten.